I remember watching 500 Days of Summer for the first time when I was a teenager, and like everyone else back then, I picked a side immediately. I was firmly Team Tom and absolutely not Team Summer. By the second half of the movie, I had actually started actively disliking her. I remember feeling so bad for Tom that I promised myself I would never rewatch the film, mostly because I couldn’t handle seeing his heartbroken face one more time.
Fast-forward to now. Since it’s Zooey Deschanel’s birthday, it felt like the perfect excuse to revisit the movie and to give Summer another chance. And I’m so glad I did. Watching it with an adult brain completely changed how I processed everything. The arguments made more sense, and the characters felt a lot more human than I remembered.
This time around, I didn’t walk away hating Summer. I didn’t even feel the need to pick a side. Instead, I found myself noticing all the moments I had ignored before and questioning why I had been so quick to villainize her in the first place. Rewatching it now, the movie feels less like a love story with a hero and a villain and more like a painfully honest look at two people who wanted different things at different times. Here’s my opinion on it, and what I’ve realized now that 500 Days of Summer finally makes sense to me.
1.
The karaoke bar scene was never the start of their love story. Instead, it works better as a warning the second time around.
2.
The IKEA scene was them playing house, not actually building a relationship.
3.
The day-counting scenes track Tom’s emotions more than the relationship.
4.
I realized the post-sex musical sequence was about Tom, not love.
5.
Tom’s kid sister was the most emotionally honest person in the entire film. Yes, I said it!
6.
The bar fight scene is just Tom confusing masculinity with romance.
7.
In my opinion, the wedding scene is the cruelest moment in the movie.
8.
Tom didn’t fall in love with Summer, he simply fell in love with the version of her in his head.
9.
The expectations vs. reality scene still hurts, maybe even more now.
10.
Their ideas of love didn’t disappear, they just evolved in opposite directions.
11.
Summer wasn’t anti-love. She just wasn’t sure, until she was.
I finally understand why this movie refuses to stay out of group chats and comment sections. What felt like a devastating love story when I was younger now feels like a very honest look at two people who were never on the same page at the same time. This time, I didn’t finish the movie angry or heartbroken. I mostly finished it thinking, oh… that’s rough, but fair. I understand Summer more, I sympathize with Tom without fully defending him, and I’m slightly embarrassed by how confidently I picked a side the first time around. Come on, if a movie can still make me rethink my own bad takes years later, it clearly struck a nerve for a reason.