It deserves a place among those invaluable films that have reminded us that, cinematically speaking, love doesn’t necessarily stink.ĥ00 Days of Summer is a story of boy meets girl that avoids a number of the usual traps. The film has more of an edge than your typical romcom (The closest thing to a “meet cute” in this picture consists of one of the leads singing a snatch of The Smiths’ “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” to the other in an elevator: “To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.”), and it deserves to either transcend the romcom label altogether or better still, to reclaim it for the Annie Halls and High Fidelitys of the world. It echoes 2008’s likable romcom Definitely Maybe to a small degree - it’s got a similar maturity, a nonlinear storyline, and there’s even a precocious little girl (who is, thankfully, used with discretion) - but 500 Days does Definitely Maybe more than one better I laughed with this film harder, felt for its characters more deeply, and left higher on the movies than I ever expected to. Director Marc Webb’s 500 Days of Summer was my happiest surprise at IFFB.

Tv tropes pitfall trap