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Let it be known that I hate romantic movies. Romantic comedies, romantic dramas…whichever. I loathe them. I find them trite, predictable, and insulting. The fact that I’m incurably single has nothing to do with it.

Well, for the most part, anyway. Every once in a while, though, one of them breaks into my romantic Fortress of Solitude and seems to want to offer something a little bit different, whether it be a different way of telling the story, an intelligently written script, a certain amount of quirk…or Zooey Deschanel (Elf, Eulogy, my dreams). Upon seeing the trailer for 500 Days of Summer, I noticed that it offered all four things that I look for, AND it had Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, The Lookout, and I think he was on TV a couple of times), so I knew I had to see it.

Right from the get-go, the audience knows that “this is not a love story,” as the narrator tells us. This is good to know. That is not what I want to see. I want to see quirk. I want to see wit. Love doesn’t manifest itself in either of those things. Not in my single-guy life, anyway. We are then given a quick history lesson about both Tom Hansen (Gordon-Levitt) and Summer Finn (Deschanel), and how they grow into their very different philosophies on love. After this brief history, I’m already sold (although I’m always worried about an occurrence of “The Appaloosa Effect,” which happens when a movie is fantastic at the beginning, and then Renee Zellweger gets off the stage coach and blows it all to hell). They make jokes and allusions that I get, and I feel like I’m in a minority in getting them. Not as many people laugh as I think should, but I don’t care; this movie’s for me.

I’m treated to a tale told in a mildly serpentine fashion. At times, we jump around the 500 days like the storyboard was planned out by rolling dice, while still getting to know what we need to know when we need to know it. We get to watch Tom and Summer come together (as much as she will allow, that is), and come apart (I’m not really ruining anything by saying that, don’t worry). When the movie is supposed to be fun, it definitely is. Scenes of drunken karaoke and misunderstood art (not to mention a little surprise set to Hall and Oates) give way to far more heartbreaking moments of rejection and feelings of hopelessness. Even these “Days” are occasionally tinged with dark humour to which we can all relate, and not help but laugh. By the end of the movie, things occur in a more sequential fashion, as they should, but I am no less pleased with how the telling of the story comes to its conclusion.

The acting is a bit of a mixed bag. That is to say, it’s never bad, but it’s not perfect. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great. In the emotional scenes he is pretty much spot on. There is the occasional scene with his friends where I think he could have done a bit better, but in the spots that need the most talent and charisma, he delivers in spades. There’s a scene at the end of the movie where he conveys so much emotion with just a facial expression—to me, that one scene makes this a great all-around performance on his part. Zooey Deschanel though…I couldn’t quite figure her out. At some points she seems a little more detached from her character, and a little less like that’s how detached her character is at the time. That’s the problem with emotionally detached characters: sometimes the actors playing them do it too well, which I’m thinking could be the case here. That’s neither here nor there, since it’s not distracting in any way and both leads are wonderfully suited for their roles. There is a definite amount of joy to be had from the supporting performances of Chloe Moretz (The Amityville Horror-2005, Bolt), as Tom’s sister Rachel, and Geoffrey Arend (The Ringer, Garden State), as Tom’s friend McKenzie. Rachel is Tom’s voice of reason, even though she is a tween-aged girl. The scenes with Tom and Rachel are all outstanding and quite funny due to Rachel’s alarming bluntness (“QUIT BEING A PUSSY!”), and precocious sensibility. McKenzie, on the other hand, is the obvious comedic relief, whether it be getting staggeringly drunk and trying to karaoke, or just being generally absurd while trying to be helpful. He is the anti-Rachel, but almost as enjoyable to watch.

The other star of this movie is the soundtrack—the songs that appear as the background to the action and the songs that are sung during the karaoke scenes. It’s a hodgepodge of great indie-pop and alt-rock from the last 20 years, from The Smiths and The Clashto Feist, Regina Spektor, and the Doves. There’s great music all over this movie, which had my head bobbing while I was taking in what was happening onscreen as well. And yes, it is available to buy on CD (people still buy music, right?).

So yeah…I liked this movie. A lot. I found it to be very enjoyable and entertaining. I wasn’t going in expecting my life to be changed, but I was hoping to see an amusing, intelligent, HONEST account of how things go in the modern quest for romance. I got that, along with a fantastic representation of both the good and the bad parts that come with all of that. It’s a story well told, but not in a way that makes it feel like it’s trying to be more than what it is. It is quick, witty, and succinct. It is bittersweet and sweetly bitter. It is fluff in the most wonderful sense as it will not change your life or make you think too much, but it doesn’t insult you with clichés and foolishness. It is definitely 500 days (and a few dollars) well spent.