Three years ago, the MIFF Centerpiece was a new, then unknown comedy/drama from Fox Searchlight Films that had stirred keen response at Sundance but was still unknown to the public. That film was Little Miss Sunshine. This year, the MIFF Centerpiece is a new, unknown comedy/drama from Fox Searchlight Films that has stirred keen response at Sundance but is still unknown to the public. This film is (500) Days of Summer. It’s an offbeat romantic comedy about a young woman who doesn't believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her. “Like Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris of Little Miss Sunshine, Marc Webb is a commercial director who came to Sundance to make good - and did in a major way, when Fox Searchlight picked up this terrific anti-romance with major box-office potential. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives his most mature performance yet as the office hack who falls for Zooey Deschanel - and she, in turn, more than makes up for The Happening. The script, full of flashbacks and flash-forwards, is a whiz-bang showcase with the verve and speed of one of last year's best films, Reprise. They had us at hello, with the hysterical preface: "Any resemblance to any real people living or dead is purely accidental. Especially Jenny Beckman... Bitch.”—New York Magazine.

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