(500) Days of Summer
Metascore
76 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    Here is a rare movie that begins by telling us how it will end and is about how the hero has no idea why.
  2. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    88
    The casting is perfect. Webb has chosen leads who are familiar but not overexposed, and who are on equal footing (neither overshadows the other).
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    100
    It's a feat of star acting, and it helps make (500) Days not just bitter or sweet but everything in between.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    It's the oldest bittersweet story in the book, of course, but music-video director Marc Webb approaches his feature debut with great confidence, flair and a minimum of schmaltz.
  5. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    A different kind of love story: an honest one that takes a piece out of you.
  6. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    It's an "Annie Hall" for the iPod generation: über-designed, pleasing to the touch, making up in generic sweetness what it lacks in bite.
  7. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    40
    An exhaustive and exhausting dissection of a relationship that was never all that promising in the first place.
  8. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    70
    And what makes this autopsy of a love affair funny is Tom's ironic, morose commentary as he revisits what happened.
  9. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    88
    Much like Annie Hall did for a previous generation, (500) Days of Summer may be the movie that best captures a contemporary romantic sensibility.
  10. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    75
    Deschanel does what she does seemingly without effort, managing to convey Summer's mixed-up messed-upness.
  11. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    100
    Visually witty, flawlessly played romantic comedy.
  12. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    88
    This is a romantic comedy that makes the concept of romantic comedies appealing again -- that reminds you how resonant and transporting they can be when they're done right.
  13. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    83
    The film does a lovely job of balancing emotional clarity, formal trickery, pop sweetness, and heartfelt narrative. It is, yes, cute, and it is, yes, quirky. And it is entirely justified, estimable and loveable in being those things.
  14. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    67
    Because we know almost from the get-go that things will turn out bad-to-bittersweet for them, the movie is like one long autopsy of what went wrong, starting with Day No. 488.
  15. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    67
    It goes down smoothly, thanks in large part to Joseph Gordon-Levitt's grounded lead performance and Marc Webb's slick direction, but it seems like every other scene coughs up a dispiriting cliché.
  16. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    70
    Slight, charming and refreshingly candid little picture.
  17. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    70
    Boy gets girl and boy loses girl in convoluted, sometimes cloying but ultimately winning fashion in 500 Days of Summer.
  18. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    75
    The film has an easygoing, inquisitive spirit, heightened by Webb's visual conceits
  19. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    50
    Ultimately, the best thing about (500) Days of Summer isn't its gimmicky script. It's the constant performance of Gordon-Levitt, who shifts, scene-by-scene, from moments of ebullience to abject dejection.
  20. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    75
    The whole movie aspires to set an Annie Hall vibe, especially when Tom keeps trying to re-create, first with her and then with someone else.
  21. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    80
    Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel charm the pants off us -- and each other! -- in this irresistible comedy.
  22. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    80
    The writing is often clever and the overall production playful and intelligent.
  23. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    80
    A romantic comedy that feels like real life.
  24. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    70
    Because the emotional drama is so one-sided, I just can't love you.
  25. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    80
    The film is, finally, a brilliant tap dance over a void: There’s no real drama when the inner life of the female lead is so shrouded, even if that’s the point.
  26. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    78
    A funny, seductive, and surprisingly honest dramatization of the ways we snooker ourselves into incompatible love.
  27. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    88
    A movie that will be discovered, embraced and shared with friends like a favorite record album.
  28. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    88
    You know how people say that they don't make romantic comedies like they used to? Turns out they do. At least, director Marc Webb does -- and has -- with his clever and sweet debut, 500 Days of Summer.
  29. NPR
    Reviewed by: Nathan Lee
    40
    For all its rhetorical whimsy and hipster dressings, (500) Days of Summer is a thoroughly conservative affair, as culturally and romantically status quo as any Jennifer Aniston vehicle.
  30. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    100
    Much like the actual summer (the season, not the character), we never wanted it to end.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 481 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 152 out of 183
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 183
  3. Negative: 24 out of 183
  1. NilesH
    10
    Loved everything about this film.
  2. JillS.
    10
    Awesome movie,my favourite of all time.Better than Avatar!(In my opinion).
  3. ShaunQ
    10
    It's a travesty that this movie has a lower score on metacritic than District 9. You won't be disappointed by seeing it.
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