Tagline:
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love.

Wide Release Date:
August 7, 2009

Directed by:
Marc Webb
Written by:
Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Produced by:
Mason Novick, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Steven J. Wolfe

Starring:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Zooey Deschanel

PREGAME THOUGHTS

I saw this in college shortly after it was released to DVD. The hype around it was pretty high, and I was expecting a very poignant relationship story. And I got one, although I have the capacity to appreciate it way more now than I did then.

I remembered Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character being a whiny crybaby through most of the family. I also had a huuuuge thing for Zooey Deschanel, because who didn’t, and this is the perfect role for her: the subverted Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Because we the people were tired of her actually being one again.

THE 400(ish)-WORD SYNOPSIS

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Tom and, like all Toms, he’s a handsome go-getter! He works as a writer at a greeting card company, which sounds like the life. Here, I can do it too: “You are the wind beneath my wings.”

Zooey Deschanel is Summer (hey, that’s in the title!) and, like all Summers… uh… she’s hot? She works as Tom’s boss’ new assistant.

Tom catches Summer’s eye at work one day and tries to make some subtle moves, eventually getting her attention with their shared taste in music. They start talking and spending a little time together. During karaoke night at a bar, Tom’s stage presence illuminates something within Summer. She kisses Tom the next day the copy machine.

Tommy!… Tom-areeno!… Makin’ copies!… The Tomster!

Summer lays down the rules! Casual only! Tom agrees! They fuck! Guess who’s starting to fall in love?!

The story is told in a non-linear fashion, bouncing between the earlier days where things are great and the later days when things start turning to shit. A lot of the problem can be boiled down to this: Summer asked for something casual. Tom agreed. Tom starts reneging on the contract. Summer’s feelings day-to-day are mostly inconsistent. Eventually, Summer breaks it off congenially, but Tom is devastated for months. He spends a lot of effort trying to win her back and expecting the best at each turn, but she wants to remain friends.

Tom and Summer separately attend a wedding and have a good time with each other, which boosts Tom’s spirits yet again. Reality is crapped right onto Tom’s face when Summer invites him to a party and he sees Summer showing a friend an engagement ring. After another few days of crippling depression, Tom hoists himself up, quits his greeting card job, and starts to pursue his passion with architect work.

Tom and Summer meet up one last time. He’s starting to do better, she’s happy he’s starting to do better, he gets to ask his nagging questions, she answers them, he gets to tell her that he’s glad she’s happy.

Look Tom… I think we should see a bunch of other people.

Later, at a BIG ARCHITECTURAL FIRM job interview, Tom meets a woman who is vying for the same job. Grabbing life by the horns, he asks her out for some coffee after the interview is over. She is played by Minka Kelly. Her name is Autumn.

TOM’S DISCUSSION CORNER

TOPIC 1 — What the Fuck Is Summer’s Problem?

I’ll start with the male point of view. I am indeed a male, after all. Not me, of course, but A typical man will ask why Summer isn’t giving it up to a nice guy like Tom. After all, Tom’s a nice guy, right! He deserves to have Summer and she doesn’t get a say in it! There are even a few times where Tom says something to the effect of “it’s all about what you want, isn’t it?” or “I SAY WE’RE A COUPLE!”

From the male point of view, Summer is jerking Tom around. She’s cold and heartless to be playing with emotions like that. To an extent, maybe, but the real issue here is Tom projecting his ideal relationship onto her. You can find hundreds of similar opinions on the internet, so I’m not going to belabor this point.

Reality ain’t too shabby, honestly.

TOPIC 2 — What the Fuck Is Tom’s Problem?

But I’d like to go into more detail about that point, especially since I recall Tom being way more emotionally abusive, needy, and clingy during my first watch over ten years ago. I’m relieved that he wasn’t, but this movie still makes a good point: that movies aren’t real. Tom even makes this point during his quitting rant. Movies lead you to believe things that don’t happen in reality. That’s the perfect moral of this story. So believe this movie! Love stories set up unreal expectations of relationship dynamics. Absolute truth.

BUT, and holy hell people, Summer isn’t a saint at all in this either. She doesn’t get to come out of this scot free, because life doesn’t work that way. No black or white, no all or nothing, and the truth is that Summer did accidentally play with Tom’s feelings. She isn’t naïve and she isn’t stupid. Even though she sets the table at the beginning with “nothing serious”, Tom re-sets the table in the middle of the movie. The scene after Tom punches the douchebag out in the bar and Summer is upset with him, he now makes it crystal clear what he wants: he wants a serious relationship. He tells her this, and they continue in spite of this revelation. This is the point where Summer should have broken it off. Once it was out on the table, she had one thing to do.

I just wanted to throw that out there. Tom’s the bigger shithead, I’m not defending that. I’m just giving him credit where credit is due.

See what I mean? Look at this shithead.

IMDb TRIVIA FUNHOUSE!

According to the DVD commentary, one of the film’s writers estimates that 75% of the film actually happened to him.
THE TRUTH COMES OUT. This is all just one big “I’m a crybaby!” movie, then, isn’t it? Oh wait, there’s more…

Jenny Beckman, the girl who is mentioned at the beginning of the movie, was a real girl who dumped one of the screenwriters, Scott Neustadter. Summer is based on this girl, and the script of the movie on their relationship.
I had the pleasure of Googling this Scott Neustadter guy, and let me tell you, he looks exactly like one of those NICE GUYS who will fly off the handle if a lady doesn’t wethump his dick at the end of the night. Smug-face Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a perfect casting decision! Kudos, creep.

Around the time of the movie’s release, director Marc Webb shot a short video for the Internet, which featured Zooey Deschanel as Sid Vicious and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Nancy Spungen, in reference to a conversation in this movie.
Now this Marc Webb guy, this guy gets it. I looked up the video, and they just pretty much threw a mop on top of Joseph Gorden-Levitt’s head. He didn’t even shave. Deschanel makes an attractive Sid Vicious!

In the original screenplay, Summer was depicted as having cropped blonde hair to construct a more summer-like persona.
Right? Nothing about Zooey Deschanel is very summery. She looks like dead-of-Winter with her pale skin, coming out into the sunlight twice a month to forage for snowberries. Snowberries are a thing, right?

“This art display exudes the late Baroque era of artistic expression. Namely, the ‘pile of shit’ movement.”

Ian Reed Kesler, who gets in a fight with Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the bar, is credited as “an actual douche.”
Gotta give it up for this one. The guy at the bar looked like David Boreanaz from SEAL Team and Summer was wrong for getting mad at Tom for punching him right in the face.

They say it took sixty casting calls to find the right person to look like more of a douche than Gordon-Levitt! Who these “they” are who said this, I’ll have to get back to you on that.

There is a fan theory that the final conversation between Tom and Summer on the park bench was all imagined by Tom and did not really happen. Even Joseph Gordon-Levitt has said he believes this is more a scene of Tom’s coming to inner peace than actual reality. If that is accurate, then Day 408 (at Summer’s house party when he learns of her engagement) is the last time Tom ever sees Summer.
This is a pretty good one, and deserves some extra commentary. The scene involves the two meeting up again at Tom’s “favorite spot”, which is a place that Summer says she now visits often. He gets the air some grievances at her, which she takes in stride. He gets to hear her admit that she might have been wrong about not believing in fate. He gets to tell her that he genuinely hopes she’s happy. They get to say goodbye.

The impact of all this would be much greater if it was all in Tom’s head, 100%. Having Summer showing her engagement ring to someone at a party be the literal last moment Tom ever sees her again is perfect and brilliant. I’m on board with this theory too, and I’m glad that while it may not have been an intentional choice on the part of the filmmakers, at least it left enough ambiguity to make it SEEM like it could’ve been intentional. That’s good enough for me.

Look, man. I’m sick of you. Aren’t you sick of you? I think French Stewart is looking for you.

IS IT WORTH A WATCH?

I think so. I wasn’t gaga over this movie in college, but it’s better than I remember. I mostly remembered Gordon-Levitt being a sniveling, emotionally abusive wanker about everything, and I’m pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t the case. I must be thinking about something else! Oh yeah, my own life!

*jubilant outro music*