500 Days of "Right" and Wrong with Summer

Ever found yourself deep in arguments about 500 Days of Summer? If you have, you’re not alone - I've been caught up in many debates over this film.

Like most viewers, I was hit hard by the movie’s ending and found myself swimming in emotions because of its contradictions. For me, 500 Days of Summer is both an amazing movie and a frustrating one. Sound confusing? Let me explain.

Released in 2009, 500 Days of Summer earned a solid 7.8 on IMDb and 7.6 on Rotten Tomatoes - impressive for a romantic comedy. It’s often praised for its "real-life" portrayal of relationships, breaking away from the usual cheesy romance narratives. So, if you were expecting tragic love sacrifices or Disney fairytale endings, think again.

I first saw this film in 2010 with a group of close friends. Predictably, the debate kicked off the moment it ended. The girls, of course, sided with Summer Finn, while most of the guys leaned towards Tom Hansen - or stayed neutral.

Personally, I connected with Tom. Like him, I grew up romanticizing the idea of "true love," "soulmates," and "destiny." It's great seeing yourself in a character on screen - that’s the beauty of creative storytelling. But like Tom, I was frustrated. How could Summer be so cold?

Tom’s confusion is understandable. How could someone who shared such intimate moments - kisses in the copy room, playing house in IKEA, showering together - see him as "just a friend"?

It’s clear that Tom was special to Summer. She didn’t let just anyone into her personal space, and when she finally invited him into her room, they had a deep conversation that ended with Summer admitting, "I've never told anyone that before." Tom wasn’t just another fling.

But things really heated up during their bar argument on day 185. Tom got into a fight after some guy insulted him, calling him Summer's "boyfriend." That single word triggered Tom, and he snapped. Later, Summer was visibly upset, telling Tom she didn’t need his protection - a moment that sparked many debates.

Tom’s hopeless romanticism hit hard again when Summer showed up at his place to apologize, but when he said he needed "stability," her response - "I can’t promise you that. No one can." - drove Tom (and every romantic watching) crazy.

This dialogue shows Summer did have feelings for Tom in that moment, even if she wasn’t the type to express them romantically. As she said earlier in the film, "There's no such thing as 'love.'" That was Summer’s belief from the start.

But Tom, weak as he was, ignored the warning signs. He didn’t ask for more, and we watched as his romantic hopes were crushed, especially after he discovered Summer was engaged on day 366. Yet, we also witnessed Tom’s transformation. By day 488, he had accepted the harsh reality, turned away from naive ideas of "true love," and rebuilt himself.

One of the most striking scenes occurs when Tom and Summer sit in the park. Tom confesses, "The craziest part is realizing that everything you believed in is totally wrong." This moment shows Tom’s growth - he has accepted that his romantic fantasies were misguided.

"What do you mean?" Summer asks.

"Fate, soulmates, true love. All that stuff. Silly childhood fairy tales. I should have listened to you. You were right."

Tom’s confession reveals two things.

First, he has accepted himself, which is shown through his acknowledgment that he was once wrong, once naïve, once foolish. This acceptance is one of the biggest signs of real change in a person’s life - the moment they take a new direction. Have you ever met someone who constantly hides their past out of fear that people will know they were wrong, that they made mistakes? Most likely, yes.

When we see Tom Hansen in a suit, with slicked-back hair and a confident look, it’s the moment he has come to terms with his experiences and decided to change.

Second, it seems that Summer was right all along. There’s no such thing as love - it’s just an illusion. We’ve been following Tom through a seemingly ordinary journey, but like when he loses control in the boardroom, all those romantic ideas, the movie conversations… they’ve led us to expect too much from something as unreal as fate, soulmates, "the one"… it simply doesn’t exist.

As for me, I’ll always lose in these debates because, as the opposition often points out, didn’t Summer make it clear she didn’t want a serious relationship? And Tom himself, even on the day Summer found out he liked her (on days 27 & 28, thanks to McKenzie’s drunken outburst), only managed to become… friends with Summer. Tom had failed from the very first moment.

The end.

"No."

Over the past two days, I’ve been reading the script for 500 Days of Summer and discovered something incredibly important. So important that I find it hard to believe I’ve overlooked it for the past five years since I first watched the movie.

It’s at the very end, when Summer says:

"One day, I was sitting in a café reading Dorian Gray, and this guy comes up and asks me about the book. Now he’s my husband!

What if I’d gone to the movies earlier that day? Or what if I’d gone to a different café for lunch? Or arrived ten minutes earlier? Tom, that’s fate, just like you said. When it happens, you just know. I could feel it. And I kept thinking, ‘Wow, Tom was right.’?

You were right about all of that. You were just wrong about me."

Wait. Really?

I think reading the script made me process it differently than watching the movie. So I rewatched the ending and realized that the somber background music might have affected my perception of it in previous viewings.

In a surprisingly calm and gentle way, Summer acts as the voice of the writers, telling Tom that he was right. There is fate, there is “the one,” there is love at first sight. Those things aren’t just illusions. Love is real.

And then it hit me: Summer was simply stubborn in believing that “true love” didn’t exist. It was the kind of stubbornness you get from someone who’s never experienced it before, not from someone who’s cold-hearted or cynical. Tom wasn’t able to guide Summer, not even from the crucial moment back on days 27 and 28. Tom was the one who led Summer to misunderstand the nature of their relationship.

After that, Tom meets Autumn, and what we see on screen is how the cold 500th day transforms into a warm Day 1.

Tom didn’t change. He simply became more honest with himself, becoming a better version of who he was.

Then I went on IMDB and reread the film’s logline. There’s no message saying that "love" and "fate" are illusions. Instead, it’s: "A story about a quirky romantic comedy, about a girl who doesn’t believe in true love and the guy who falls for her."

The filmmakers did something remarkable: they encouraged us to believe in love, by telling the story of someone who didn’t believe in it.

Dung Le

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