It’s rare that a movie comes along that has it all.  Usually the acting and the directing is great but the screenplay was a little off.  Other times the script is almost perfect and the actors perform to their fullest but the director is uncreative and boring.  And occasionally the director does a masterpiece with a flawless script but Julia Roberts is in it.  That’s not the case with this film; everything lined up perfectly.  Director, Marc Webb, has knocked it out of the park with visuals that weren’t shoehorned in for no reason but didn’t chicken out with generic over-the-shoulder shots either.  Not too bad considering this is his first movie and the last thing he did was a Jesse McCartney music video.  The acting from stars Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was perfection as they spun a web of chemistry that seemed like genuine love.  Not too bad considering she did “The Happening” and he’s the kid from “3rd Rock from the Sun.”  Too top it all off the script was written by two guys who made a romance movie that was funny, heartbreaking, and surreal yet painfully real.  Not too bad considering that they also wrote “Pink Panther 2.”  It’s as if fate wanted all these non-impressive people to come together to create this perfect romantic comedy…ironic given the plot of the movie.  What makes me love this film so much was that it didn’t set up the unreachable expectations that every other romance movie does.  There aren’t the sweeping romantic scenes on a hilltop or under a waterfall.  There’s no passionate kissing in the rain.  There isn’t even the impossibly romantic chance meetings or elaborate dates.  It’s two people and what happens to them in this relationship…in all its painfully plain highs and lows.  It’s so refreshing to see a romantic film that speaks to us instead of at us.  Think about it.  Most romance movies make you think “wouldn’t that be SO romantic” or “I wish someone would do that to me” or “they’re so lucky.”  Now imagine watching a romantic movie that makes you think “that’s happened to me” and “I know EXACTLY how that feels.”  And while you’re thinking that you bounce back and forth from having your gut shake with laughter and your eyes well with tears.  I know it’s a little early in the season and it’s rare that movies like this pull it out, but I would say that this should be a serious contender for the Oscar for “Best Picture.”  If “Annie Hall” could do it, then I see no reason this couldn’t.  At the very least it deserves an award for being the first film to perfectly capture what it feels like to have sex with the biggest crush of your life for the first time.  I know that’s not an Oscar category but I’m sure it’s an MTV Movie Award one, right?
(500) Days of Summer (Rated PG-13)
Gavin Grade: A+

I think that it’s pretty misleading to have a movie called “Funny People” and that stars Adam Sandler.  Not a fan of his, never was and probably never will be.  However, he was good in this.  He wasn’t funny, but he was good.  The movie is carried on the backs of Seth Rogen and Writer/Director Judd Apatow’s great script.  This is kind of the last in a trilogy of Apatow’s with “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” kicking it off.  Even though they don’t have the same characters (which could be confusing since they all star the same people except the lead) they’re a linear stream of conscientiousness for the road of life.  Although “Virgin” was about a 40-year-old, it dealt with a subject that represented early adulthood.  “Knocked Up” was about that pivotal moment in some lives that changes you for the rest of it.  And “Funny People” is about the mortality that awaits all of us and how we deal with it.  This one is probably the most serious of the three and ironically the least funny.  That’s not to say that there aren’t some great scenes and hilarious lines.  The one-hit-wonder, Jonah Hill, is there to provide most of that in the movie.  The problem with the film is the problem that Apatow has with all his films, they’re too damn long.  There is always a part in the last act of his movies that just feels like it could be either cut completely or trimmed by about 20 minutes.  In Apatow’s defense, it’s really hard to make a comedy that’s over 2 and a half hours long still entertaining but I would say that in most cases, no comedy should ever try.  The good news with this is that it’s not a comedy…not really.  I thought that it did a good job of mixing the funny and the sad, but never once feeling like it was forced.  I think that probably comes from having a cast that has done this kind of movie so many times over.  It also may come from Apatow himself.  We’ve known for a while that he is a gifted writer that makes funny movies for adults that both men and women can enjoy together, but he’s now also starting to really show his chops in the director’s chair.  This is probably his most visually impressive movies to date, which might have something to do with the story being so visceral.  Of course Apatow does get a little annoying at times by allowing so many cameos in his movies, which now comes across as him just showing off how many famous people he can put in his films.  Just like the plot of the story, there’s good news and bad news with “Funny People.”  Good News: It’s an amusing comedy that’s not afraid to show you a dark and dramatic look at decisions that come from people who are facing death.  Bad News: It could’ve done that in a funnier, more dramatic and shorter way.
Funny People (Rated R)
Gavin Grade: B