Weber , and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as Tom and Summer respectively, and in a nonlinear narrative structure, Tom chronicles the story of his relationship with Summer. As an independent production , the film was picked up for distribution by Fox Searchlight Pictures and premiered at the 25th Sundance Film Festival. Many critics lauded the film as one of the best from and drew comparisons to other acclaimed films such as Annie Hall and High Fidelity Tom Hansen is an aspiring architect who works as a writer at a greeting card company.
He meets Summer Finn, a new employee. They discover that they have a similar taste in music. Later, at a karaoke night for their work, they talk about love. Tom believes in it, but Summer does not. Tom's friend and co-worker McKenzie drunkenly reveals that Tom likes Summer, which he asserts is only "as friends", something Summer agrees with.
A few days later, Summer spontaneously kisses Tom in the office. Summer is not looking for a serious relationship. Tom agrees to a casual relationship. That night they have sex; Tom is elated. Over the first several months of their relationship, they grow closer. Both Tom's friends and his preteen half-sister Rachel push him to ask Summer where they are in their relationship, though Summer brushes this off, saying that it should not matter if they are both happy.
One night, Tom gets into a fight with a man who tries to pick Summer up in a bar, causing their first argument. They make up and Summer concedes Tom deserves some certainty, but demanding she promise to always feel the same way about him would be impossible for anyone to make.
Slowly, their relationship becomes less passionate and they begin to continuously argue. Summer quits the greeting card company and breaks up with Tom, citing their obvious unhappiness. Tom's boss moves him to the consolations department, as his depression is making him unsuitable for happier events.
