Question: Is the last line of “(500) Days of Summer” a cheat?

An Open Forum question from The Unknown Lyricist:

Does anyone else feel the last line of “500 Days of Summer” was a cheat/cheapened the movie (which I thought was great up until that point)?

Here is the very end of the screenplay, the Protagonist Tom meeting a Girl for the first time:

GIRL
Nice to meet you.

She puts out her hand to meet his. They shake.

GIRL
I’m Autumn.

And on his face…

SMASH CUT TO:

(1)

THE END

If by last line you mean, “I’m Autumn,” personally I would have loved to been either Neustadter or Weber (the screenwriters) when they came up with that line because I would have been dancing around the room, screaming hallelujah — to me, that line is perfect. It just works. Yes, it is hugely coincidental that the entire movie, he dates a girl named Summer. Then the very next girl he — presumably — dates is a girl named Autumn.

However what if that’s the point? What if Tom has gone through the entire emo-coaster of a relationship with Summer and hasn’t, in fact, learned jack shit? Indeed, what if he is going to replicate the same experience with the next girl that he did with Summer? In that case, the fact that her name is Autumn is like, well… fate! Which is precisely the type of wrong-message a guy like Tom would have take — remember his youthful misinterpretation of The Graduate (P.4 of the screenplay) — and fits his character perfectly.

On the other hand, what if Tom has learned his lesson? What if (1) means this is the first day of the rest of his life, a new day, a new beginning, indeed, a new season! So Autumn works that way, too.

I believe N&W wanted the ending to be ambiguous — either you think Tom learned his lesson or didn’t. Hence the non-description description: “And on his face…” Not a smile or a smirk or serious look. Nothing to give away any hint what Tom is feeling at the precise moment he hears the name “Autumn.”

Finally there’s this: What other name could they have possibly chosen that could have worked? Granted they didn’t need to end with the girl saying her name, but given that they went down that path, there’s no other name that could have worked. Any ‘regular’ name — Sophie, Brenna, Kelly, Svetlana, whatever — would have fallen flat. “Winter” or “Spring” doesn’t work because who’s named that? But Autumn works. There are tons of women named Autumn. Don’t believe me? Go here.

That’s my take. What’s yours? Did anybody else share TUL’s dissatisfaction with the last line of (500) Days of Summer? Or did you think it was a perfect ending to a little gem of a movie?

Comment Archive