“There’s two options, really,” he slurs at Alison, already a few sheets to the wind. The single funniest moment of 500 Days of Summer comes most of the way through, when a sad-sack, post-breakup Tom agrees to go on a date with a woman named Alison (Rachel Boston) to try to snap him out of his funk. Summer, meanwhile, insists she doesn’t want to be in a serious relationship, and ultimately dumps Tom. Tom, we’re told, is desperate to find “the one,” and he thinks he’s found that in Summer. Aric Jenkins 500 Days of Summer: Who Was Right, Tom or Summer?Ĭoworkers Tom and Summer begin dating. Are you ready? Let’s begin with the granddaddy of them all. To examine the cases, I recruited my colleagues Claire McNear and Michael Baumann to argue over a few choice examples, and after careful consideration, I will judge once and for all how we should feel about each subject. With that in mind, we decided to take a look back at several other famous rom-coms and debate which plot points-or entire relationships-have been potentially misunderstood. To this day, you can find 20-minute-long videos on YouTube debating the merits of both sides of the argument. But in the years after the film’s 2009 release, a new critical consensus emerged: Summer had always been truthful about her intentions Tom just refused to accept them. The film seemingly positions Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as the clear target of our sympathy, suggesting he was wronged by Summer’s (Zooey Deschanel) refusal to acknowledge their relationship. Other times, a discussion emerges much later, after people have had time to reflect on what happened.ĥ00 Days of Summer is a perfect example of the latter (and it’s also the movie that inspired this piece). In some films, that debate kicks up from the first viewing. Conflict is a defining characteristic of rom-coms, and it often leads to great debate on the part of the audience. So far during The Ringer’s Rom-Com Week, we’ve tackled a couple of contentious topics: What are the genre’s greatest movies? And who are its true icons? The answers can lead-and have led-to conflict, which makes sense.
Head to the top of the Empire State Building, order what she’s having, and join us as we dig into everything the rom-com has had to offer over the years. Thankfully, The Ringer hereby dubs this week Rom-Com Week, a celebration of one of the most delightful, captivating genres in film. When you find the theme week you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.