(500) Days of Summer: A Romance for the Unromantic

I've been meaning to check out (500) Days of Summer for awhile, and the Lady and I finally received it via Netflix last week. We watched it instead of watching the end of the Golden Globes, and it was pretty decent. I've pretty much always liked Zooey Deschanel, ever since I saw her in Mumford. I liked Joseph Gordon-Levitt when he was on 3rd Rock from the Sun, and I also liked him in Brick, so I'm enjoying his current rise to prominence.

Tom Hansen (Gordon-Levitt) works for a greeting card company. When Summer Finn (Deschanel) starts working there, he develops a crush, and they strike up a relationship. Unfortunately, she doesn't believe in love, and he's falling head over heels into it for her. Told in a Tarantino-esque disorganized fashion, jumping around between the beginning, middle, and end of their 500 days, s he realizes he may have over-romanticized their relationship, and comes to grips with reality versus expectation.

It's a very cute movie, and surprisingly funny. Gordon-Levitt swings wildly between hopeless romantic, heartbroken cynic, exhausted by his lost love, nearly insane from it, and darkly humorous. Zooey is adorable, finicky, and engaging. There's a musical number where Tom sings and dances in the street with passersby in a perfectly synchronized "random dance" sequence. There's even an animated bluebird. The scenes where his younger sister (played by Chloe Moretz) are precious and amusing, where her 12-year-old character dispenses more intelligent advice than his loser friends (and yeah, he seems to only have these two guys for friends). It has a good, moderately happy ending (where the main character quits his crappy job and starts pursuing architecture more seriously), all thanks to the crazy relationship he just got out of.

The costumes and production design was amazing, as well. The story bounced around between the days, always with an intertitle listing the day, and showing a summery-looking scene at the beginning, and a dreary wintery scene in the relationship's decline. In an especially affecting shot, the world around Tom washes out from the real world to a smudgy drawing to nothing but stained paper, with his silhouette remaining in the center of the frame, casting a lonely shadow.

I liked it, it was cute, funny, and despite the wacky musical number and an especially interesting scene showing the side-by-side "reality" and "expectation" of a party, the characters are pretty realistic. It's not really a chick flick, because Gordon-Levitt is so entertaining and Deschanel is just so damn cute. It's also not a bad romance, either. It's not like "Autumn in New York," it's more like "When Harry Met Sally," just with a different kind of nice ending.

I give it four depressed greeting card writers out of five, or four adorable bows in Deschanel's hair out of five.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Unforgettably Excellent

Last year, that tall guy from How I Met Your Mother starred in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which he also wrote. It co-starred Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Paul Rudd, Russell Brand, and Jonah Hill, and there are definitely some shenanigans going on. It was directed by some dude I'd never heard of before, Nicholas Stoller, but that's ok. It's one of those movies that doesn't need Kubrick or Welles, it just needs someone to point the camera at the funny stuff that's happening. There's nothing wrong with a decent movie that relies primarily on awkwardness, great dialogue, and interesting songs sung by two characters. Also, there's a sex competition. Yes, you heard me. It is just as awesome as it sounds. Also, it was produced by Judd Apatow, so it automatically falls into the crazy category of Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin.

I greatly enjoy these kinds of movies, where virtually every line is something you kind of want to quote to other people. Sometimes it gets annoying (like when every moron that you bumped into wanted to yell "Yeah, baby!" after seeing Austin Powers), but it can be good, too. The music and songs are pretty decent, too. Segel's character is a musician, writing songs for a (decidedly terrible but incredibly apt parody) crime show starring his girlfriend, the titular Sarah Marshall, played by Kristen Bell. He's trying to write a Dracula musical. Seriously! It's pretty awesome. I am bummed out that the only spin-off from this movie is Get Him to the Greek, with Russell Brand and Jonah Hill. I wish I could see the real Dracula musical. I demand that it be produced! I demand it!

Peter Bretter (Segel) is a pretty talented dude, who works as a composer for Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime, a crime show parody based on shows like CSI: (which also co-stars William Baldwin, in a spot-on David Caruso parody). His long-time girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Bell) co-stars on the show, though he starts to feel unimportant and uncomfortable in the spotlight. She breaks up with him at the start of the movie, leaving him naked and vulnerable (quite literally). His step-brother Brian (Bill Hader) tries to cheer him up, but he is only vaguely comforted by random sex with strangers. Eventually, he escapes by going to Hawai'i, to a hotel that Sarah talked about often, where he meets Rachel (Kunis), a cute and adventurous customer service/front desk worker at the hotel. They get close, while Sarah shows up at the hotel as well with her new boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), a completely ridiculous musician. There are basically lots of shenanigans involving sex, ex-lovers, new lovers, songs about Dracula, Jonah Hill making Peter feel awkward, making Aldous feel awkward, and then an insane scene where Sarah and Aldous try to out-sex Peter and Rachel. Also, Paul Rudd is a surf instructor named Chuck, or Kunu (which means Chuck in Hawai'ian). It's funny.

Okay, so there's some nudity. Okay, so there's a lot of nudity. Yes, most of it is Jason Segel. Yes, it is full-frontal. It ... It is a pretty awkward scene. Harrowing stuff. What nightmares are made of. Not really, but seriously. I had to close my eyes. Luckily, it's at the beginning, so if you can get through that, you'll love the rest of the film. Segel is surprisingly talented in virtually every way. He's a better actor than you'd expect, he's a much better musician than he seems, and he wrote the film entirely by himself (according to the credits, at least), though it's possible that there were some ad-libs and improvisations from the other actors, all of whom are talented. It's also surprising to see Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis in this kind of screwball sex comedy, where both actresses had previously been on relatively wholesome television series prior to this. Also, most Americans didn't really know who Russell Brand was at this point.

It's a hilariously entertaining movie, but a bit thin in terms of general plot, but that's acceptable. It's not often that films like this have real, thought-provoking plots or deep, rounded, incredibly developed characters. It's not really the point of these kinds of movies. The point is to forget about whatever dumb stuff is going on in the real world, and just laugh your stressed-out ass off for an hour and a half. Check out the special features, too, the commentary is great, and the line-o-rama and gag reel are worth checking out.

I give the film three awkward full-frontal nude shots out of five, or three hilarious and surprising sex competitions out of five.

Before Sunrise: A Great Date Movie

I'm going to deviate a little from the current movie schedule by talking about something I actually watched when I was in college. It's Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, and pretty much nobody else. I'm doing this because I have a Netflix copy of Before Sunset, the sequel released and set nine years after the original (the first one came out in 1995, and the second in 2004), also directed by Linklater and starring Hawke and Delpy.

If you like romantic movies, it's definitely something to check out. If you like good movies, it's worth checking out. I don't normally like these kinds of movies, and I think this movie is pretty awesome. I don't normally like Ethan Hawke all that much (though he's growing on me), and I'd honestly never even heard of Julie Delpy before this. Richard Linklater is pretty fantastic, though, and he is able to present us with one fabulous and strange night in the lives of two virtual strangers.

The plot is simple to minimalistic perfection. Jesse (Hawke) is an American abroad, traveling around briefly to escape his own thoughts, after a painful breakup with his girlfriend (he came to Spain to see her, and they broke up there, hence his aimless wandering). Céline (Delpy) is in a similar situation, returning to Paris for school (university, not ... anything lower) after visiting her Grandmother. They strike up a conversation, and they debark in Vienna for the night before needing to get on separate trains to get to where they're going. They wander the streets of Vienna all night long, talking, getting close, and finding themselves falling in love. Their attraction is constantly at war with the knowledge that they will be parting ways in the morning (hence the title).

Linklater wrote the film with Kim Krizan as well as directing, and the screenplay was nominated for Best Adapted Writing Screenplay for the sequel. Like Linklater's previous movies (notably Slacker), this film is extremely dialogue driven, which is obvious considering there are literally only two characters in the film. It's a testament to the acting powers of these two young stars that the audience is barely conscious of the fact that we're only watching two people have a conversation for two hours. The cinematography also helps, showing them wandering around Vienna, which is a beautiful city (from what we can see on screen).

If you've ever seen Slacker or Dazed and Confused, you know that Richard Linklater specializes in aimless young people, stuck in some sort of transitional state, between youth and adulthood, innocence and responsibility. Jesse is a cynical romantic and seems directionless, but Céline's presence clears the cobwebs and the fog a little bit, and doesn't let him get away with his cynicism. Céline is something of a sweet girl, and was excited by the possibility of getting off the train with Jesse. She reveals later that even though he "convinced" her to go with him, she had decided she would well before then. They share a kiss and long, deep conversations ranging from life, relationships, death, family, education, and religion. The poet David Jewell has a cameo as a bum/poet that says he'll write a poem based on a word of their choosing for money. They pick "milkshake," and they are surprised at how apt and beautiful the poem is.

I just really like this movie, that's pretty much the gist of what I have to say. On the surface, the typical audience will probably enjoy it as a "love that can never be" kind of story, a young love story of hope and regret, blooming emotions that we know will be cut short. Underneath, it's even better, when we really pay attention to the dialogue, what they discuss, and how Linklater follows them around Vienna. They're often framed together, rarely apart, and the implication is that they make love in the park. before they get on the train in the morning, they agree to meet at that very train station in six months. We're never shown whether or not they do, but I can assume based on the plot of the sequel that they do not, and only reunite after nine years serendipitously.

I definitely suggest checking this movie out. Go out and rent it, put it on your Netflix queue, try to catch it on TV (it must be on TV sometimes, but I can't say that I've ever seen it there). I actually own this movie (I bought it for class instead of just renting it), and I may have to buy the sequel after I've seen it this week. I don't know if I can even come up with a clever rating system this time... I give it four and a half angry young men in love, or four and a half hopeful promises out of five.

Blow Dry: Not A Real Romantic Comedy

Don't get me wrong, the title of this entry isn't a bad thing. I've seen Blow Dry advertised as a romantic comedy, but it's more of a flamboyant dramedy. There is a vague, half-assed secondary plot that features Josh Hartnett and the worst British accent of all time, ending up with Rachael Leigh Cook, mercifully accentless. It's definitely British, which is a very good thing. It stars Natasha Richardson, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, the aforementioned sub-plot love-pair, and Rachel Griffiths. It was released in 2001, and was directed by Paddy Breathnach (he also directed Shrooms, a horror film about...mushrooms). It was particularly entertaining, and reminded me somewhat of Baz Luhrmann's first film, Strictly Ballroom, in a good way.

Blow Dry is set in the small village of Keighley, which has just been named as the home of that year's British Hairdressing Championships. A hairdresser named Shelly Allen (Richardson) wants to bring her broken family back together by having them enter the competition. Shelly's ex-husband Phil (Rickman) and son Brian (Hartnett) are barbers/stylists in the same town, but not the same salon as Shelly. Ten years ago, Shelly ran off with Phil's hair model Sandra (Griffiths), and he's never forgiven her. Phil's old hairdressing rival Ray Robertson (Nighy) is in town for the competition, and he wants to win at any cost. He also brought his daughter Christina (Cook) as a hair model and colorist. Long story short, the two salons compete mostly against each other to win, while Shelly reveals her terminal cancer to Phil and Brian, and eventually Sandra, trying to bring her family back together before it's too late.

For most American audiences, the film was branded as a romantic comedy, with a poster that features Josh Hartnett with a blowdryer, and Rachael Leigh Cook blowing into his ear, which is apparently supposed to be sensual. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, Hartnett's fake accent is pretty much the worst thing you'll ever hear, and he's a secondary character at best. Luckily, Rachael Leigh Cook's character is also relatively minor, so they get to hang out and be minor together, and eventually end up as a romantic couple, although nobody really cares. The primary focus is the extra-crazy and glittery Bill Nighy, the eternally dry and sarcastic Alan Rickman, and the glorious and sunny Natasha Richardson. Also, Rachel Griffiths is a surprisingly complex character, and is a treat throughout the film.

I'm curious as to the authenticity of the in-film hairstyles that the largely anonymous stylists create. I would have liked some additional nods to the hairstylists, maybe some indication that they were real stylists (or perhaps the actual stylists of the film, what a concept), but maybe they were too subtle for someone with no cosmetology background. Maybe the font during the credits was a bit larger than usual, or something. Who's to say?

The best part of the movie, for me, was a combination of the over-the-top character of Bill Nighy, and the more-stylish-than-usual but still hilariously dry Alan Rickman (he basically is so dry, he goes right back around to being interesting again). Nighy is literally coated in glitter throughout the movie, and when he's styling, he's bedazzled out to the nines, as is pretty much everyone else. That's what reminds me of Strictly Ballroom the most: the stylists have their little tables all over a large auditorium, and everyone's wearing sequins and sparkles, moving around seemingly synchronized, with the town's mayor becoming more and more flamboyant and passionate with every appearance, seeming to really warm to the spotlight.

This film is extremely cute, heartwarming, and even touching at times. For some reason, British films are always just a bit different than ours; it may be a cultural difference or sensibility that leads them to direct a little differently. Even though it's from 2001, it almost looks like it's from the 1990s, just in terms of camera quality. It is an entirely entertaining film, with interesting characters and a good storyline. I recommend it! I give it four glittery Bill Nighy's out of five, or four terrible accents out of five.