katikat | 3x with JGL: (500) Days of Summer

I watched this movie knowing the tagline was "This is not a love story. This is a story about love." And also knowing what JGL had said about his character, Tom (he really loves to play Toms, doesn't he?):

"[Tom] develops a mildly delusional obsession over a girl onto whom he projects all these fantasies," Gordon-Levitt explained. "He thinks she’ll give his life meaning because he doesn’t care about much else going on in his life. A lot of boys and girls think their lives will have meaning if they find a partner who wants nothing else in life but them. That’s not healthy. That’s falling in love with the idea of a person, not the actual person.

"A part of the movie that’s less talked about is that once Zooey’s character dumps the guy, he builds himself up without the crutch of a fantasy relationship, and he meets a new girl."

Source

I have to agree with him. Summer is very clear about not wanting a boyfriend but Tom falls for her hard anyway. That's pretty much the beginning of the film. The rest is him waking up to the reality. And it's a hit after hit after hit and you can't help but ache for him - but, as JGL said, it's a false happiness because she lets him forget how empty his life otherwise is.

JGL looked so incredibly good in this movie...

... and I loved the dancing and singing number in the park, one of the best scenes. This guy has MOVES! I also understand why so many people think he's head over heels for Zooey Deschanel even though they both insist on being just best friend. I mean, when he looks at her in this movie, it's like his heart is in his eyes...

... so yeah, I think I get why people might forget it's "just" acting, that it's not real.

My favorite part of the movie, though? Tom's relationship with his little sister Rachel, played by Chloë Moretz...

The way she's always there for him with an advice, the way she's so worried about him - up to the point of riding her bike across the city in the middle of the night when Tom's friends call her because he's depressed. It's beautiful and the best thing in the whole movie!

Other known actors in this movie? Matthew Gray Gubler, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly.