> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bensmovieguide.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You - URL: https://www.bensmovieguide.com/you-cant-be-in-love-for-both-of-you/ - Published: 2026-10-27T15:50:30.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-27T15:50:30.000Z - Description: Summer says she doesn’t want a serious relationship. Tom has plenty of reasons to believe they’re perfect together—and a growing habit of treating those reasons as her answer. - Author: Ben - Tags: #editorial, #movie, Movie: (500) Days of Summer (2009), romance, comedy, drama, 2000s, Rating: PG-13, #Runtime: 95, #Rated For: sexual material and language, #Verdict: Rent, #Watch: Major Platforms, #Eyebrow: She Just Likes Him, #featured She likes the same music. She’s funny. You’re attracted to her, she seems attracted to you, and spending time together feels almost ridiculously easy. After enough disappointing dates, this seems like something worth getting excited about. There’s just one small problem. She’s told you she doesn’t want a serious relationship. Well, people say things. Maybe she hasn’t met the right person yet. Maybe she’s protecting herself. Maybe once she realizes how good you are together, she’ll change her mind. That’s a lot of maybes to build a relationship on. **She’s Told Him. He’s Still Hopeful.** Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom in [*500 Days of Summer*](https://www.bensmovieguide.com/500-days-of-summer-2009-review/), a greeting-card writer who believes in the kind of love that makes everything else fall into place. When he meets Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel, it doesn’t take much for him to start imagining that she might be the person he’s been waiting for. Summer is interested in him. She enjoys his company, and what develops between them gives him plenty of reasons to be happy. But she’s also clear that she isn’t looking for the commitment he wants. Tom hears that. He just gives considerably more weight to everything that seems to contradict it. And you can understand why. Being told somebody doesn’t want a serious relationship gets confusing when you’re spending time together doing things that certainly feel like one. There’s affection, intimacy and the comfortable little routines that make another person part of your life. He’s waiting for her to catch up to a future he’s already started imagining. **The Good Days Make a Convincing Argument** The movie moves back and forth through their time together, which is a particularly effective way to tell this story. You see why Tom falls for Summer, but you also see the uncomfortable moments that don’t fit the version he prefers. Gordon-Levitt makes Tom easy to sympathize with because he captures both the excitement and the embarrassment. You can enjoy watching him get carried away even while recognizing that he’s getting carried away. Deschanel has a trickier job. We spend so much time with Tom’s feelings that Summer can seem unfair simply because she doesn’t share them. But wanting somebody badly doesn’t make their reluctance a character flaw. That’s an uncomfortable thought when you’re the one doing the wanting. **You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You** What makes *500 Days of Summer* interesting is that Tom’s mistake grows out of something most people would consider a good quality. He’s hopeful. He believes this connection matters, and he wants to give it a chance. But hope becomes a problem when it starts answering questions for somebody else. There’s nothing foolish about being excited when you meet a person you could love. The foolish part is deciding that the strength of your feelings settles the matter. Shared music, great afternoons and genuine affection can all mean something without meaning everything you want them to. Tom thinks he’s in a love story. He has some lovely memories to support that conclusion. He still needs to find out whether Summer thinks she’s in the same one. ![You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/500-Days-of-Summer-2009-16x9.jpg) ![You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/500-Days-of-Summer-2009-2x3.jpg) ![You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/500-Days-of-Summer-2009-4x5.jpg) ![You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/500-Days-of-Summer-2009-5x6.jpg) ![You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/500-Days-of-Summer-2009-6x5.jpg) ![You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/500-Days-of-Summer-2009-3x1.jpg) ![You Can’t Be in Love for Both of You](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/500-Days-of-Summer-2009-1600x727.jpg)