As the narrator forewarns, ‘(500) Days of Summer’ is not a love story. But it’s certainly in the same family tree as some of the greats.

As Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) reflects on his relationship with Summer (Zooey Deschanel), split screens, karaoke scenes and a speckling of animation make it clear that an incredibly thick page was taken out of ‘Annie Hall’s’ book. A counter timelines each part of the relationship, shuffling around episodes to display how Tom and Summer fell for each other and how it all fell apart.

And yet, it’s a fresh story of a boy who overanalyzes everything and a girl who doesn’t believe in love. It’s upbeat and exciting. It invokes more giddiness than a junior high crush could, forces up the deepest, most obnoxious laughter possible, then forces on a sinking gut feeling of being cheated on love.

Fantastic one-liners and sprinklings of pop culture references make their way through the naturally peppy dialogue. More complementary, though, is the film’s soundtrack, which leans heavily on The Smiths, Regina Spektor and Hall & Oates’ ‘You Make my Dreams’ – the spark of a surprisingly successful dance scene.

Deschanel is the perfect fit for a girl who’s full of fun and likes pornos and playing house in Ikea. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has outgrown his ’10 Things I Hate About You’ geekiness. He perfects the glossy, lovey-dovey eyes in a way that would make Humphrey Bogart proud.

It’s just too bad the 95 minutes of screen time can’t turn into 500.

‘(500) Days of Summer’ is still playing in theaters.

bmdavies@syr.edu

Published on August 31, 2009 at 12:00 pm