(500) Days of Summer Blu-Ray Review

500 Days of SummerOne of the edgiest, smartest and most entertaining movies of 2009 is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray: (500) Days of Summer, starring Jospeh Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

The back cover describes the movie as a romantic comedy, and in many ways it is: it’s about a romance, and it’s funny from the first second to the last. But (500) Days of Summer is so much more than a romantic comedy. It’s not just fluff and concept, the same story layered over the same old formula. It’s real life, and yet an exaggerated form of life. More accurately, it is a movie about the emotional ups-and-downs of any relationship.

It’s hard to describe just how good the movie is, but it is exceedingly good. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, hilarious. All these words are accurate. The movie will bring a smile to your face within minutes and it won’t fade until the ending credits roll. But if that’s too vague for you, check out my (500) Days of Summer movie review, or read on to hear about the Blu-Ray.

The Blu-Ray contains a good amount of special features that provide additional insight into the production of the film. A few unremarkable deleted and extended scenes kick things off, followed by a 30-minute making-of featurette, which, while not remarkable, still does a good job of detailing the challenges the filmmakers faced in bringing the movie to theaters. Director Marc Webb gets a lot of face time in the featurette and is very upfront and sincere about how he wanted to approach the movie. All around, it’s good stuff, and not promotional in the slightest.

Fans of the movie will want to check out Sid and Nancy, which has Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel playing alternate versions of their characters in the most fatalist of forms.

Conversations with Zooey and Joseph has the actors interviewing each other about various aspects of their work, such as how they prepare for character, choose their movies, et cetera. This sequence of videos is pretty entertaining and insightful, as it’s fun to see the actors just being themselves.

Additionally, there is an audio commentary by Webb and Gordon-Levitt, audition tapes for some of the supporting cast (with optional commentary), a music video and a dance video. Oh, and a digital copy of the film is also includes.

(500) Days of Summer is an excellent comedy and one of the best movies of 2009; the Blu-Ray complements the film by providing an array of quality special features. It’s not the greatest package in the world, but it’s more than good enough.

By Erik Samdahl
Related categories: DVD Releases, Movie Reviews

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