When is a bromance picture not a bromance picture? When it’s a dick flick, of course. This rarely seen sub-genre, a XX chromosome bed-fellow for the chick variety, owes more to the wistful comedy of Annie Hall than the barely latent homoeroticism of I Love You, Man. 500 Days of Summer, is a classic dick flick that genuinely merits the runner-up spot to Woody Allen’s 1977 classic. A romantic comedy aimed squarely at hipster boys, 500 Days arrives under the auspices of Fox Searchlight, the imprint behind Little Miss Sunshine and Juno. By golly, it shows.
Just check out the indie schmindie credentials: Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a failed architect turned greetings card writer, falls for Summer (Zooey Deschanel) when she starts singing along to The Smiths. Playing lovesick swain to her romantically challenged free spirit, he serenades her with a karaoke rendition of Here Comes Your Man and wins her over but not for long.
Their boy meets girl loses girl adventure unfolds by way of Memento. The 500 days of the title are presented in what looks like a random fashion, a lovely clever device to allow us to see the good times and the bad side by side. This wildly playful approach to chronology is complemented by daydreams, asides, occasional narration and split screens; her interest in Belle and Sebastian, we are told, caused an unprecedented spike in sales of The Boy with the Arab Strap ; the morning after Tom gets the girl, he looks at his reflection as sees Hans Solo smiling back.
A whipsmart and touchingly heartfelt screenplay from Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber is deftly executed by director Marc Weber and the adorable, albeit hipper-than-thou coupling of Mr. Gordon-Levitt and Ms. Deschanel.