Viewed – 19 January 2012  Blu-ray

Romantic movies sometimes have a funny effect on me.  Perhaps it’s because Hollywood’s idea of love is often fairy tale and perfect, when in real life, it can be anything but.  Do we really need another movie about some loved up couple and their perfect life together?  Then I began to realise this movie was different.  It’s not your conventional boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, things are fine for a bit, then things go wrong … before finally, it all gets going again, and happily ever after … yada yada yada.  No this quirky, cleverly written romantic drama takes a keen look at a modern relationship and paints what you might call a unconventional but wholly believable interpretation of love … and all the confusion that can come with it.

Inception’s Joseph Gordon–Levitt is very good as the love struck office worker who falls for a girl who doesn’t have his rose-tinted idea of love, played perfectly by the very likable Zooey Deschanel (Yes Man, Elf).  Their story takes place over 500 days, and the movie jumps back and forth and in between to give the viewer an entertaining and often very clever story full of good dialogue, a convincing romance, and plenty of keenly observed ups and downs.  Director Marc Webb has delivered a sharp and often surprising drama (the post-coital dance number a particular highlight), that although lacking the comical spark of the similar High Fidelity … still managed to leave this viewer with a knowing smile on his face.

Verdict:  4 /5