I loved Natalie Portman as the 12 year old Lolita-esque character in Beautiful Girls. Love that movie. So I got semi-excited to see Garden State. I think Scrubs is overacted and Zack Braff is full of himself but I thought he'd be bearable in Garden State. Not so much. "I need to feel things and blah blah blah cry cry cry I love myself" ugggghhhh. Terrible. Portman couldn't even save this Indie flick desperately trying to come across as...well an indie flick. I do like the noise Natalie Portman makes to put herself in a good mood and when she says "you're like IN it right now aren't you?" But other than that it's a big old suckfest and made me hate him more than ever.
Then along comes 500 Days of Summer. Woo hoo! Just weird and quirky and cynical enough for me to like. Yea it also tries desperately to come across and indie and different but I still liked it. Everyone in this movie looks like they could be in an iPod ad but that's OK. I'm not one for romantic comedies but how could I not like a movie that starts off by saying "This is not a love story". Tugs at the non-existent heart strings. I won't spoil the movie for peoples but I will mention some of the things I liked:
Zooey Deshcanel's outfits which pretty much were probably just her outfits. I'm also pretty sure they just had her play herself. The scene with her apartment is awesome. Cool decorating ideas. Oragami looks so cool when it's mini. Her favorite Beatle is Ringo Starr because nobody else likes him and thinks Octopus's garden is the best Beatles song (I love that song!) I'm also not blind to our personality parallels. She's pretty monotone. Loves awesome music. And swears love doesn't really exist and relationships aren't worth it. Hmm I don't know why I liked this movie...
Love the karaoke scene. Joseph Gordon Levitt (I suck at spelling these people's names) can actually sing and has somehow adopted Heath Ledger's face. Despite his greasy hair he's gotten pretty cute since Third Rock from the Sun (and I usually love greasy hair! But seriously he has really really greasy bangs).
The dance scene after he gets laid is awesome. This is how I imagine every guy feels afterward even if they slept with a fatty or an uggo. You'll also realize what I said about the iPod ad during this part. I'm pretty sure some of those people ARE actually in iPod commercials. Just sayin...
The part that breaks my little heart is the split screen Expectations vs. Reality scene. I won't spoil it but it's simple and realistic and sad and awesome. Remnicent of the writing-of-his-own-happy-ending from Annie Hall. Oooo Annie Hall. Go see that movie too. I'm picky with my Rom Coms but if you want to see "realistic" love stories go rent these:
500 Days of Summer
Annie Hall
When Harry Met Sally
If you want a surreal love story but still amazing and ridden with metaphors about life and death and love then see:
Big Fish
I read a quote from this movie at my Grandfather's wake, that's how much I love it.
And also under this category falls
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Across the Universe (I hate love stories and musicals but this one works. Could be because it's named and based on my favorite song ever but no biggie.)
Ok so I digressed. But these are all great flicks even though they're based on "love".
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