Movie Review — 500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer was another of the films I watched on the nasty long plane flight from Los Angeles to Sydney.  I remember when it came out, I was mildly interested, but since it was apparently a romantic comedy, I knew I would wait until it was available on video.  These things almost always work just as well on a 10" screen as they do on a huge theater screen.  This one is no exception.

Stylistically, I found the film interesting.  It eschews a standard linear narrative for one which starts halfway through the titular 500 days, and then plays at being sort of two storylines
from there, one advancing from Day 1 to the starting point, and one advancing from there to Day 500.

Also, the film is pretty honest, telling you right off the bat what’s going to happen and that marriage and “Happily Ever After” are not in the cards.  Of course, being jaded American movie viewers, we don’t believe that, both because we want that ending to happen and because we’ve been lied to enough in the past that honesty isn’t trusted.

Unfortunately, the movie also stars Zooey Deschanel, who I’ve seen previously in Yes Man and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and found unmemorable in both of those.  (I remember her scooter in Yes Man, though.  What does that say?)  Here, she’s just… flat.  Of course her character here is also flat.

Is she playing that character really well?  Is she just paying herself?  Did she flatten the character more than was in the script?

Does it matter when you just want to tell the guy moping over her that he can do better?