Tom Hansen believes he will never truly be happy until he finds "the one." And so we are launched into an amazing story of love and relationships between two very dynamic characters.This movie was pretty much perfect. Excellent and extremely humorous writing. Some wonderful (though obvious) insights into love and how it can affect people differently and how those differences can affect a relationship. Because the story takes place over a 500 day period (frequently jumping around in that space) we experience the full spectrum of new love (expressed through a fantastic music and dance spectacular in the park) deepening love, heartbreak, hope, and hopelessness. Honestly, I went into this movie expecting to cry. I wanted to cry. Mostly, there was too much laughing to cry. Even as we watched in sympathetic horror as Tom experienced the depths of heartbreak-induced depression, we were treated to well-timed and orchestrated hilarity that managed to keep every emotion in-check with reality.
I actually left feeling more hopeful, even after or maybe because I recognized myself in much of what Tom experienced. Whether it's all just coincidence or destiny, I feel like maybe there's still some hope for something good. And yes, this is a movie that explicitly calls out TV and movies and even greetings cards as the shepherds of false ideas on love, itself selling ideas of love that may or may not be false. It doesn't matter, it was all crazy fun and I would happily do it again.
