Charming? Yes. The most refreshing, heartfelt and authentic romantic comedy to come around since Annie Hall? Hardly. Although I think I stand almost alone in that assessment, this darling of Sundance failed to bowl me over. While Joseph Gordon Levitt, as the only Gen Y male who still believes in True Love, couldn’t be more appealing or sympathetic, Zooey Dechanel, who yawns in True Love’s face, couldn’t be more insipid or annoying. She plays that same, quirky, enigmatic character we saw in Yes Man and those long, lingering shots of her darkly fringed baby blues are not enough to carry a performance.

The star-crossed lovers meet at a greeting card company in downtown LA. Her name is Summer, and their relationship ebbs and flows over a period of 500 days. The unobtrusive narrator points out in the very beginning that this is not a love story, but the audience has its doubts. Even though He falls in love immediately and She declares she doesn’t believe in true love, they make such a cute couple as they play house in Ikea, both wearing funky thrift store chic. It’s hard to imagine them not living together happily ever after.

But if everything went so smoothly we wouldn’t have much of a film, would we? We still have to learn important lessons preaching The Truth About Love, and Following Your Passion. The film is set in Los Angeles, but with its focus on public transportation, parks, pedi-commuting and professed fascination with industrial architecture, it would have been much more comfortable set in Chicago or New York. It simply feels awkward and out of sync in Los Angeles.

It’s not that this film isn’t perfectly pleasant and sweet. Perhaps people are waxing superlative over it because they’re so very hungry for a romantic comedy that feels natural, not contrived or just plain idiotic. Whatever the case may be, expect to be amused by this film, and perhaps to develop a crush on Joseph Gordon Levitt, but don’t expect the earth to move. The truth about love is that it isn’t always like that.