(500) Days of Summer

First Hit: I liked this film because it felt thoughtful. And, although the ending is telegraphed, the acting, sequencing of the scenes and direction kept the story alive and fresh all the way through.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom Hanson a young man who believes that true love only happens once in a lifetime. When he meets Summer Finn (played by Zooey Deschanel) he immediately feels that cosmic, this is it, connection.

The story is about their 500 days together which go from this first meeting until their last meeting. The film plays scenes in different orders. Sometime showing an early scene and transitioning to a later scene with an expansion of the idea or concept they are grappling with.

At other times the film plays a later scene first then transitioning to an earlier scene showing where the idea or concept first came into their relationship. This technique was very effective for this film and kept me focused and interested.

The story, overall, is effective and brings out what happens in many budding relationships; one person feels more than the other. There is an honor in each having their point of view which plays out well in this film and was enjoyable to watch.

Gordon-Levitt was excellent as was Deschanel. They played well together and one could feel the right level of chemistry between them to make this film work. Marc Webb directed this well written screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber.

Overall: A very nice interesting film that plays out in some very wonderful scenes by competent actors.

Yes Man

First Hit: A sophomoric film played by someone who graduated to adulthood a long time ago.

Jim Carrey reaches back to the type of humor that made him famous, over the top facial expressions, goofy dialogue and pratfalls. Carrey has tried drama based films and although he was OK, he never really made a mark as a dramatic actor.

Good comedic actors use more that odd facial expression, goofy dialogue and pratfalls. They use crisp funny dialogue, subtle expressions, and physical movement which can enhance a scene (Think Peter Sellers in Being There).

The problem with Carrey is that he’s getting too old to be limited to pratfall acting. In Yes Man Carrey plays Carl Allen a low level loan officer who says no to everything that comes his way. Because of this he spends his time alone and watching rented DVDs.

As his life is slipping away by alienating his friends by not being available he wakes up on day by going to a “Yes” seminar. During the seminar he makes a convenient with the leader to say yes to everything. While doing this he finds himself in funny circumstances which end up enhancing his life. Along the way he meets Zooey Deschanel who is a cute quirky girl who embraces life, just like the new “Yes Man” Carl.

One thing that didn’t fit was the lack of chemistry and comedic circumstances that didn’t work.

Although some of the circumstances and scenes were truly funny, the film was mixed with lack luster drama and funny bits. The movie seemed more like scenes patched together to make a film. Carrey is tiring in this type of role and I wonder what he’ll do next. Deschanel was cute and was more believable than Carrey.

Overall: Aside from a few big laughs, this form of comedy for Carrey has worn out its welcome mat.

The Happening

First Hit: This film isn’t happening.

I don’t understand how movie and film executives continue to poor money and support a filmmaker who appears to be a “one-trick-pony” or as they say in the music business “one shot wonder.”

The Sixth Sense was a great film by Shyamalan. However, every film since then has exponentially gotten worse. The premise of this tragic use of celluloid is that something is making people kill themselves.

First they say it’s terrorists, or a leak of a government experiment somewhere, but it turns out to be the plants. It is a chemical reaction or maybe the plants are pissed off at us for screwing up the world.

Regardless there is no suspense, extremely poor acting (it all feels very forced) and the dialog unbelievably ridged. (Example: When the train stops and all train crew can say is “nobody is out there” and they say this with stoic calm).

M. Night Shyamalan’s writing, direction and his usual small acting role, are forced, poorly expressed, and ill conceived. Mark Wahlberg, who can act, looks like a deer in headlights the entire film and Zooey Deschanel as Mark’s wife was even more lost.

Overall: I knew this was a really bad film 2 – 5 minutes into it. I literally was in shock that I’d have to sit through to the end. This film needed to breathe but instead it choked us into dreaded boredom.