A “Summer” Kind of Love

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.

Happens all the time—to me more times than I care to recall.

Nothing to be done for it. Nearly all of us have fancied someone who doesn’t fancy us.

But . . .

What if . . .

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl acts like she’s fallen in love, too.

Aye, there’s the rub.

Rejection I can take, but deception? Games?

In words best heard in the quavering voice of Aaron Neville—

If you want something to play with
Go and find yourself a toy
Baby my time is too expensive
And I'm not a little boy

Tell it like it is.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star in director Mark Weber's wry, non-linear romantic comedy about a man who falls hard for a woman who doesn't believe in love and says she doesn’t want a boyfriend.

Tom Hansen (Gordon-Levitt) is an aspiring architect who currently earns his living as a greeting card writer (“You make me proud every day. Today, you get a card.”). Upon encountering his boss' fetching new secretary, Summer Finn (Deschanel), Tom discovers that the pair have much in common, (and not just that they both love The Smiths and the surrealist artist Magritte). From the very first moment, Tom is smitten. All he can think about is Summer.

Tom believes in the concepts of soul mates and one true love, and he thinks he’s finally found his.

Unfortunately, Summer doesn’t feel the same way—or so she says. Her actions seem to indicate she’s changing her tune. She says she sees true love as the stuff of fairy tales, and isn't looking for romance, that she wants to keep things casual. Undeterred, Tom pursues Summer, and for a while she seems to respond in kind, but ultimately, it is short lived.

The smart, interesting, funny film is told out of sequence in scenes that serve as kind of forensic flashbacks in Tom and Summer’s love autopsy.

It brings to mind the lyrics Drew Barrymore’s character batted around in “Music and Lyrics.” “Figuring out you and me is like a love autopsy. They can search all day long and never find out what went wrong.”

After it looks as if she's left his life for good, Tom reflects back on his yearlong relationship with Summer—and the audience gets to comb through the wreckage along with him.

It’s clear that although Summer said she didn’t believe in relationships or boyfriends or true love or anything serious, it’s obvious to everyone except Summer, she and Tom became far more than just friends.

Through his heartbroken investigation of his relationship catastrophe, Tom gets advice from his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, the best, wisest counsel comes from Tom's adolescent sister, Rachel.

“(500) Days of Summer” is a well made film, worthy of your movie going time. The script is clever, the directing good, and the performances of Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel are outstanding. Still, it’s hard not to leave the theater frustrated. The writers and director so perfectly capture the pain and emotional devastation that occurs when someone in a relationship is dishonest or whose actions don’t match his or her words, that it’s difficult not to be angry at Summer (even as charming as Zooey Deschanel is).

Mixed signals.

Poor communication.

How much heartache could be spared if we would all just tell the truth—and make sure our actions match the truth we’re telling.

Actions. Not words.

No matter how much someone says she doesn’t believe in love or doesn’t want a boyfriend, if she acts like she does, if she exhibits all the signs of being “in love,” guess what the guy in love with her is going to believe?

And who can blame him?

Sure, there were little signs, clues to indicate her ambivalence that can be seen when looking back, but they were mostly hidden by the many other actions that contradicted them. And that they could have been spotted by a trained detective or relationship guru doesn’t mean an infatuated young man had even the remotest chance of perceiving them.

The entire film, I sat there thinking, Summer’s character is not so much aloof or ambivalent or free-spirited as wounded. Like so many walking wounded among us, her actions are defensive. She’s in self-preservation mode, guarding her heart from additional hurt, which only insures that’s what she’ll both inflict and receive.
Tom is open and kind and gentle and loving and honest. Summer is closed and defensive and dishonest.

Summer lied to Tom—with her actions if not with her words. Of course, Tom lied to himself, too—but I don’t think he could or would have if not for Summer’s deception.

In addition to a fresh, unique way of telling an age-old story, the writers do a sexual role reversal with the characters. Unlike, “He’s Just Not that Into You” and what is far more common in life, it’s not the guy saying one thing with his mouth and something different with his actions. It’s the girl. And who knows? Maybe male audience members will identify with Tom and not treat the women in their lives so casually and inconsiderately in future seasons of their lives.

With all that “(500) Days of Summer” has going for it, I can forgive its unearned ending and appreciate the writers and director’s mercy in giving both Tom and the audience a glimmer of hope as summer turns to autumn, and we prepare for the cold, cruel days of winter ahead.