(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. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    80
    The writing is often clever and the overall production playful and intelligent.
  2. Slate
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    70
    It's fun both to watch and to talk about afterward, and it possesses the elusive rom-com sine qua non: two equally appealing leads who bounce wonderfully off each other.
  3. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    70
    Because the emotional drama is so one-sided, I just can't love you.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    100
    Much like the actual summer (the season, not the character), we never wanted it to end.
  7. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    A different kind of love story: an honest one that takes a piece out of you.
  8. 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.
  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. 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).
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    75
    The film has an easygoing, inquisitive spirit, heightened by Webb's visual conceits
  14. 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.
  15. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    75
    Deschanel does what she does seemingly without effort, managing to convey Summer's mixed-up messed-upness.
  16. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    75
    An irresistible feel-good movie about love gone bad.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  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. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Scott Knopf
    100
    You're going to hear a lot about 500 Days of Summer over the next few months. All of the good stuff is true. Any bad stuff you hear is not.
  21. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    80
    A romantic comedy that feels like real life.
  22. Empire
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    80
    Perfectly played, simultaneously serious and light, endlessly inventive, this is a strong contender for the most original date movie of the year. (Terrific) stuff.
  23. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    78
    A funny, seductive, and surprisingly honest dramatization of the ways we snooker ourselves into incompatible love.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    100
    Visually witty, flawlessly played romantic comedy.
  27. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Michael Ordona
    90
    Something seldom seen: an original romantic comedy.
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    70
    It's more like a love story in a blender. What is unexpected is the sincerity beneath the modest conceit that, yup, love hurts.
  31. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    70
    Slight, charming and refreshingly candid little picture.
  32. 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.
  33. 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.
  34. 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.
  35. 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.
  36. 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.

User Reviews

All reviews »
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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