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(500) Days of Summer

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knives:
Who didn't like Adventureland?

JD:
I didn't

Barmymoo:
I saw this a few days ago and I really liked it, although I actually remember thinking while I was watching it "Man, I bet there'll be a bunch of people on the forums complaining about it trying too hard to be indie".

I loved the soundtrack and I thought it was a far more realistic picture of a relationship than one where everything is wonderful and they just swan around doing exciting stuff all the time. It was cute and funny and sweet and thought-provoking.

Plus, all films are marketed at their audience. Why would a film not include references to things that are current and popular in the target audience? If your beef is that you don't like the Smiths and you hate IKEA and you don't find Summer attractive or just you don't like romance films, that's fine. But if you're saying "it clearly had a target audience" then that's stupid. I don't say I don't like The Matrix because it's obviously made to appeal to people who like action and guns.

Dimmukane:
I liked Adventureland, it wasn't as in your face as Superbad.

AanAllein:
This was not a bad film, but it certainly wasn't a good film (finally saw it yesterday).

Some thoughts:

JGL's character was more juvenile than he really needed to be. Like, I understand the whole "manchild-who-is-scared-around-women" character, but I felt it was a bit forced and didn't naturally fit his character. I dunno, it would be nice to see male characters that act a little less like they're 16 in these movies. A minor complaint.

Where was the fucking dialogue? Compare this to an amazing movie like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which, okay, this was never going to be), where the movie opens with almost half an hour of just dialogue between the two leads. Two scenes in particular had Zooey and Joseph talking with music/voiceover over the top of them. For movies like this need to be effective, you want believable conversations between the leads that help you understand their relationship and chemistry - missing out on that opportunity compromised how good the movie could've been (or maybe the screenwriters just couldn't come up with good enough dialogue).

It was a bit too derivative in parts. In particular the little aside where Summer was identified to be "special" with the Belle & Sebastian bit, ice cream shop - I felt like I was watching a Wes Anderson film. Like, the concept was fine, but don't execute in that way, please.

The Ikea product placement was a little on the nose. And the ending...yeah.

All that aside, it had its enjoyable moments, both the lead actors did good work, and had a good soundtrack. So, while I did enjoy watching it, I was aware of the missed opportunities to make a good film throughout.

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