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(500) Days of Bummer
See what I did there? Eh?
Well, I finally caught up with this flick on DVD and I have to say that I found it to be kind of a groaner. I suppose in some ways I'm the target audience for this kind of product, what with references to The Smiths, Goethe, Bergman, etc. but as one character says in the movie (which is kind of an astute summary for the whole experience, actually), "Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn't mean she's your soul mate." The basic plot centers around a doomed romance between Tom (lone bright spot Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel, playing a vacuous cartoon version of herself), from the day he first sees her to the day he finally moves on. The saga unfolds in nonchronological order, a device which reminds me of something I read in a review of Memento: the true test of a gimmick movie is whether it would still work if it was told in order-- Memento did; this one doesn't. Strip away all the unnecessary convolutions and hipster veneer and this is a very conventional rom-com. I'm surprised that other reviews haven't mentioned the script's heavy cribbing from Woody Allen... from the neurotic relational troubles of hyper-intellectual denizens of the middle class to the rapturous tangents on architecture, film, and art to the love/hate relationship with a major American city... of course, what it lacks is Allen's sly dialogue and satirical insight. What I really missed is a genuinely smart character as the protagonist's muse. Deschanel's titular femme is seriously a blank slate, which makes Gordon Levitt's smittenness with her seem less like someone discovering true love and a whole lot more like an immature infatuation. Sigh. Save your evening and rent All the Real Girls if you want to see Zooey in a relationship film that feels authentic... or better yet, seek out Medicine for Melancholy if you want to see a stylishly directed independent movie from this year that features a smart, attractive couple in a Californian metropolis unsteadily carrying on a nascent romance.
Grade: Annoying.
-Coop
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I think Zooey's adorable (in an immature infatuation kinda way) and I was figuring I'd see this on cable. Maybe not now. Thanks for the warning.
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I wonder if it wasn't the "Zooey factor?" I know she's cute and all, but pretty much any movie she's in is well... boring.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nightflier
I wonder if it wasn't the "Zooey factor?" I know she's cute and all, but pretty much any movie she's in is well... boring.
Mostly right, but I'm gonna cite Almost Famous as the exception, though The Happening may cancel that out . . .
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Mmmmyeah, I dunno. What saved Almost Famous was the music. I certainly wouldn't say that Zooey pulled the rest of the film back together on her acting or looks alone. It was pretty much a dud, no? Actually I think she was more of a savior to the debacle that was The Happening than Marky Mark or John Leguizamos were.
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Dudes, Zooey is great, don't get me wrong. Her aforementioned roles in All the Real Girls and Almost Famous have bought her enough goodwill with me to last a lifetime, not to mention her equally good turns in Elf and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and even The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Winter Passing, although those films surely have their flaws. It's just that in this one she's just asked to play the idea of herself and not given anything interesting to do or say at all. Troy, I completely understand where you're coming from... hell, that's probably why I watched it too.
Also, sad to see that her namesake passed away yesterday...
-Coop
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Originally Posted by nightflier
What saved Almost Famous was the music. It was pretty much a dud, no?
You, sir, and I have different taste in movies.
-Coop
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerald Cooperberg
You, sir, and I have different taste in movies.
-Coop
Yeah I loved AF too. Maybe you had to grow up in that era . . .
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I loved Almost Famous - I don't own very many movies but I own this one...seen it like 5 or 6 times by now. Zooey is kinda one dimensional though.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Troy
Mostly right, but I'm gonna cite Almost Famous as the exception, though The Happening may cancel that out . . .
I may be in the minority, but The Happening was one of the funniest movies of the year.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kam
I may be in the minority, but The Happening was one of the funniest movies of the year.
Too bad it wasn't supposed to be a comedy. Never in my life have a seen so many people walk out on a movie. Half the theater at least.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Troy
Too bad it wasn't supposed to be a comedy. Never in my life have a seen so many people walk out on a movie. Half the theater at least.
True, and as I recall I was the only one laughing. However, that movie had just as many, if not more, "burst-out-laughing-moments" for me than Tropic Thunder. When they get to the crazy lady in the barnhouse, oh my god, Mel Brooks couldn't have made that sequence any funnier! Marky Mark's reactions were priceless!
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My point exactly....
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Originally Posted by 3LB
I loved Almost Famous - I don't own very many movies but I own this one...seen it like 5 or 6 times by now. Zooey is kinda one dimensional though.
The movie was OK, and thank god it had Kate in it, but Zooey did nothing to add to it. For some reason every time she appears on the screen, I get that, hmmm how should I put this delicately... that :sleep: -factor
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