(500) Days of Summer

This is a story of boy meets girl.

The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New jersey,

grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy...

until the day he met "the one."

This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music...

and a total misreading of the movie The Graduate.

Elaine! Elaine!

The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan,

did not share this belief

Since the disintegration of her parents' marriage,

she'd only loved two things.

The first was her long, dark hair.

The second was how easily she could cut it off...

and feel nothing.

Tom meets Summer on January 8.

He knows almost immediately she's who he's been searching for.

This is a story of boy meets girl.

But you should know up front,

this is not a love story.

We didn't know who else to call.

It's Amanda Heller all over again.

You did the right thing.

Now, where is he?

Thomas.

Rachel. What are you doing here?

I'm here to help you. Help me how?

First, put down the plate.

Drink this.

- What is that? - Vodka.

Um, does Mom know that you're here?

'Cause it's probably past 10:00. Don't worry about it.

Just start from the beginning, and tell us what happened.

Things were going so well.

Then what?

I think we should stop seeing each other.

Just like that? Just like that.

- Did she say why? - I mean, this thing- what are we doing?

I mean, is this normal?

Norm- I- I don't know. I don't care. I'm happy. Aren't you happy?

You're happy? You're not?

All we do is argue. That is bullshit.

Maybe she was just in a bad mood.

Yeah, maybe like a- a hormonal thing.

- P.M.S.? - What do you know about P.M.S.?

- More than you, Tom. - Then what happened?

This can't come as a total surprise to you.

I mean, we've been like Sid and Nancy for months now.

Summer, Sid stabbed Nancy... seven times with a kitchen knife.

I- I mean, we have some disagreements, but I hardly think I'm Sid Vicious.

No. I'm Sid.

Oh, so I'm Nancy?

Let's just eat, and we'll talk about it later.

Mmm. That is good.

I'm really glad we did this.

I love these pancakes.

What?

Tom, don't go. You're still my best friend!

- Jesus. - You've broken up with girls before.

Yes.

And girls have broken up with you before.

This is different. Why?

'Cause it's Summer.

So you'll-you'll meet somebody new.

Point is, you're the best guy I know. You'll get over her.

I think it's kind of like how they say, There's, uh-

There's plenty of other fish in the sea.

No. They- They say that.

Well, they're lying.

I don't want to get over her.

I want to get her back.

Maybe playing it safe is the wrong approach.

The nuclear family is dead,

and we need a new holiday that recognizes that.

May 21st.

Other Mother's Day,

Thank you.

I'd say we've got some potential here. What do you think, Hansen?

Could you write up some prototypes for these?

Uh, Mr. Vance, there's a telephone call for you on line three.

Oh. Thank you. Uh, everyone, this is Summer, my new assistant.

Summer just moved here from-

Michigan. Right. Michigan. Right.

Uh, Summer, everyone.

Everyone, Summer. Excuse me. I have to take this.

It's nice to meet you all.

There's only two kinds of people in the world

There's women, and there's men.

Summer Finn was a woman.

Height, average. Weight, average.

Shoe size, slightly above average.

For all intent sand purposes,

Summer Finn, just another girl.

Except she wasn't.

To wit, in 1998,

Summer quoted a song by the Scottish band Belle and Sebastian...

in her high school year book.

"Color my life with the chaos of trouble."

This spike in Michigan sales of their album...

The Boy with the Arab Strap...

continues to puzzle industry analysts.

Summer's employment at the Daily Freeze during her sophomore year...

coincided with an inexplicable 212% increase in revenue.

Every apartment Summer rented..

Was offered at an average rate of 9.2% below market value.

And her round-trip commute to work...

averaged 18.4 double takes per day,

It was a rare quality, this "Summer effect."

Rare, and yet something every postadolescent male has encountered..

At least once in their lives.

For Tom Hansen to find it now in a city of 400,000 offices,

91,000 commercial buildings and 3.8 million people-

well, that could only be explained by one thing:

fate.

Dude, I hear she's a bitch.

Really?

Yeah. Patel tried to talk to her in the copy room. She's totally not having it.

Maybe she was just in a hurry.

And maybe she's an uppity, "better than everyone" superskank.

Damn. I know. She's pretty hot.

That sucks. Why is it pretty girls...

think they can treat people like crap and get away with it?

Centuries of reinforcement.

You know what? Screw her. I don't care.

If she wants to be that way, fine.

Smiths?

Hi.

I love the Smiths. Sorry?

I said I love the Smiths.

You have- You have good taste in music.

You like the Smiths? Yeah.

I love 'em.

Holy shit.

There you go. Have another piece.

Ah. Drinks?

Arthur, did you get apiece? Thanks.

Want one? Yeah.

Want one? Mmm.

Summer, right? Oh. Yeah.

Smiths fan. Yeah. Tom.

Want some, uh, uh-

It's not champagne. I don't know what it is. Sure.

So, how's it goin'?

Pretty good. You just moved here, right?

Mm-hmm. When?

Saturday. Oh, wow.

And, uh, what brought you?

Boredom mostly.

Wanted to try something new and exciting. Mmm.

Well, clearly you've come to the right place.

So, have you worked here long? About three or four years.

Wow. You've...

always wanted to write greeting cards?

No, I don't even want to do it now.

Well, you should do something else then.

Yeah. I studied to be an architect, actually.

You did? That's cool. What happened there?

It didn't work out.

I needed a job, and here we are.

You any good?

Well, um, I wrote this one.

"Today you're a man.

Mazel tov on your bar mitzvah."

It's a big seller. I meant as an architect.

Yeah.

I doubt it. Well,

you're a perfectly adequate greeting card writer.

Thank you. That was actually my nickname in college.

They called me "Perfectly Adequate" Hansen.

They used to call me Anal Girl.

I was very neat and organized.

Well, I should get back, so- Uh-

All right. See you later.

I don't know, man. I think it's official.

I'm in love with Summer. I love her smile.

I love her hair. I love her knees.

I love this heart-shaped birthmark she has on her neck.

I love the way she sometimes licks her lips before she talks.

I love the sound of her laugh.

I love the ways he looks when she's sleeping.

I love how I hear this song every- every time I think of her.

I love how she makes me feel.

Like-

Like anything's possible, or like- I don't know. Like-

Like life is worth it.

This is not good.

She likes Magritte and Hopper.

And we talked about Bananafish for like 20 minutes.

We're so compatible, it's insane.

She's- Well, she's not like I thought at all. She's amazing.

Oh, boy, What?

Just 'cause some cute girl likes the same bizarro crap you do,

that doesn't make her your soul mate, Tom.