(500) Days of Summer

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel. Directed by Marc Webb. M.

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At the beginning of this clever and charming romantic comedy – right after a funny "any resemblance to people living or dead is purely accidental" disclaimer – (500) Days of Summer's narrator explains that while this is a boy-meets-girl movie, "this is not a love story".

And yet that's exactly what it is all about: love – and a thought or two on fate. First, there's Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who has put his architect aspirations on hold to work as a greeting card writer in LA. He's a romantic who believes in true love and that he's found his soulmate in Summer (Zooey Deschanel), his boss's new assistant.

But Summer is an independent free spirit who believes relationships are messy, resulting in people getting hurt. She thinks there's no such thing as love, saying it's a fantasy. Tom believes she just hasn't met the right person – and hopes he will be the One.

Summer likes Tom and enjoys being with him, but early in the movie we know that by day 290 of the title Tom and Summer have broken up. As Tom looks back at his developing relationship with Summer, the movie also flashes forward to tell whether or not Tom manages to win Summer back.

As fresh as springtime, this romantic comedy defies Hollywood saccharine conventions and, recently, the ribald emphasis of sex comedies. It's wonderfully free of sentimentality and vulgarity. Instead it resonates with honesty and authenticity, its screenplay knowing not only the swoon of love but the real world of fickle romance.

As well as employing a hopscotching structure, music video director Marc Webb, making his feature film debut here, is imaginatively and innovatively creative in his storytelling style, effectively using animation, a song-and-dance number and at one point a split screen to show Tom's expectations of any important evening in his life and what occurs in reality.

A cliche – Tom pinpointing all that he loves about Summer – is turned on its head when, in anger, he uses the same reference points to criticise her. Or there's the familiar karaoke scene, which here enhances the story just as the film's alt-music soundtrack complements it. Hackneyed rom-com characters do show up as Tom's wacky friends but they are funny counterpoints; but his younger sister proves to be one of those precocious adolescent girls only found in movies.

The leads, though, are both appealing together and on their own. Gordon-Levitt (Brick, TV's 3rd Rock from the Sun) is easily likeable and sympathetic as a besotted young man who ends up making a journey of self-discovery.

Since the story is told from Tom's point of view, Summer is objectified and we learn less about her than Tom. Nevertheless, this is easily the most fetching performance by the kewpie doll-eyed Deschanel (Yes Man, The Happening), even if still playing a character who's a bit kooky (Summer's favourite Beatle is Ringo).

A smart, amusing and affecting arrow through the heart, (500) Days of Summer is easily the most original and the best romantic comedy to screen in a long time – just the kind of fillip the genre badly needed.

- © Fairfax NZ News