Genre Guesstimation – (500) Days of Summer (2009)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s Genre has been chosen by Abbi of Abbiosbiston.com  We will be reviewing our favorite Alternate Love Story movies. In order to get a better idea as to what this genre might include, check out this post by Abbi from last year. Please get me your submissions by the 25th of November by sending them to altlove@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice Abbi!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Alternative Love Story Films…

“The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.” – Author’s Note

Number of Times Seen – 2 (22 Nov 2009 and 15 Nov 2015)

Brief Synopsis – The time line of a relationship is told over the period of a year and a half but not in chronological order.

My Take on it – This is a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed the first time I watched and in order to verify that feeling for this month’s genre, I decided to give it another try just to be sure.

Unfortunately, I didn’t love this as much upon the repeat viewing because I felt that the whole story line just didn’t work as well as it could have.

The two stars, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel have great chemistry together and work well as the couple…. most of the time.

The non linear storytelling aspect actually works a bit better upon second viewing in terms of understanding the plot, but it requires the viewer to pay close attention to everything that is going on in order to fully comprehend what is going on.

Loved the split screen scenes showing actual and expected scenes

Without the unexpected feeling present upon the first viewing, this is a very good movie but still lacks excellence.

Bottom Line – Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel are very good together and their chemistry shines throughout. The unique way of showing the anatomy of their relationship requires the viewer to pay close attention and doing so pays off. The story is better understood upon repeat viewings but the unexpected moments felt during the initial viewing are gone and this no longer feels as great as originally perceived. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – According to the DVD commentary, the writer estimates that 75% of the film actually happened to him. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Close. I liked the idea the first time much better, but the knowledge of what will happen upon a second viewing leaves me liking this movie a lot but still not loving it.

Rating – Globe Worthy

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