Sweet Disposition

A relatively new phenomenon in Hollywood is the indie/hipster rom-com where the guy is the one who is unlucky in love, the role that's usually reserved for the girl. The film's tag line even proclaims "This is not a love story. This is a story about love." While I don't disagree, I can't say that I 100% agree either.

Basic long and short, Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an architect by education but works as a greeting card writer to pay the bills. Summer (Zooey Daschanel) is the object of Tom's affection who moves to L.A. from the mid-west and takes a job as secretary at the same greeting card company. The story is non-linear, and we learn in bits and pieces (how novel and new!) what led to the rise and eventual demise of Tom and Summer's relationship. They bond over the requisite obscure Brit-pop groups of the 70's and play house while wondering through Ikea. Surprise, their relationship hits it's rocky patches, and they both want different things. Blahblahblahblah...haven't I seen this somewhere before? Oh wait, I have, Annie Hall, which I'd be inclined to argue was much better. The supporting cast is filled the the standard sympathetic friends who both love and hate Summer, to support their best friends. It's interesting that we never see Summer's friends, only Tom's.

It's not all bad, if that's what you're thinking, in fact, there were some parts of it that I really did enjoy. First and foremost, Joseph Gordon-Levitt gave an outstanding performance as Tom, the love-sick kid who transcends the cliched writing to give a layered performance of a guy who slowly comes to realize who he loves doesn't love him in return. I'm glad that he's taken mostly low-key roles and has been able to successfully shed his 3rd Rock from the Sun skin and is becoming quite the actor on the indie circuit. Los Angeles has never been photographed so romantically, and it took me about half the movie to figure out that it did indeed take place in the City of Angels, so kudos go to cinematographer Eric Steelberg. And, as usually is the case with indie films, the soundtrack is also quite good, most notably the two montages that use a tune from the Aussie band "The Temper Trap". Not a huge Zooey Daschanel fan, but she does have some of the most blue eyes this side of Frank Sinatra (apparently the blue color scheme in the film was done to purposely bring out her eyes).

Overall, not a terrible movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't near as exciting as I was anticipating based on early word of mouth. Also rolled my eyes at the line of the film - how fitting. How kind of lame to take the easy way out. Grade: C

I'll admit, this makes me nervous for Funny People, as I'm going in expecting to be knocked-out with that line-up of talent. Seeing it Saturday, will report back.