Classic Movie Review When Harry Met Sally

When Harry Met Sally (1989) 

Directed by Rob Reiner 

Written by Nora Ephron 

Starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby

Release Date July 14th, 1989

Published September 20th, 2017

The classic on this week’s Everyone is a Critic podcast is When Harry Met Sally, director Rob Reiner’s 1989 romantic comedy that arguably set the template for every romantic comedy that came after it. Reiner, whose The Princess Bride turns 30 this weekend and inspired our podcast to focus on Reiner’s work, directed When Harry Met Sally from a script by Nora Ephron who would go on to take the mantel of the leading voice in romantic comedies in Hollywood throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s.

The template is thus, two people who seem ill-suited for each other get repeatedly thrust together by fate before sleeping together, montage together and then break up, montage, and finally have a romantic reunion. These movies could write themselves after a while but in fairness to Reiner, when he conceived of When Harry Met Sally, the template wasn’t quite so set in stone. In fact, in pairing the comic Billy Crystal with the actress Meg Ryan, Reiner found something that still feels very fresh in their unusual chemistry.

Harry (Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) met at the University of Chicago in 1978. Sally happened to be headed to New York to take a job as a journalist and Harry headed the same way for work offered to help pay for the trip and share the driving. They immediately don’t get along as Harry launches into his off-putting diatribe about how men and women can’t be friends because sex always gets in the way. Sally, put off by Harry’s blunt talk about how all men want to sleep with her, goes quiet and the two part ways seemingly to never see each other again.

Five years later, on a plane, Harry and Sally reconnect. Sally is in a new relationship while Harry has an even bigger surprise, he’s getting married. That doesn’t stop him from flirting with Sally and even asking her to dinner when they get to their destination. She says no and once again they part. Finally, we cut to another five years later, both Sally and Harry are fresh out of relationships with Harry still stinging from a recent divorce. In a speech that remains remarkable to this day, Harry lays out the scene of the breakup to his pal played by Bruno Kirby. The brutal honesty and dark humor of the story is magnificent, and Crystal demonstrates the kind of acting chops that few other movies have ever allowed him to show. Crystal is a consummate performer and given a brilliant monologue to deliver he becomes a magnetic presence.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community at Vocal. 

Classic Movie Review Sleepless in Seattle

Sleepless in Seattle (2023) 

Directed by Nora Ephron 

Written by Nora Ephron, David S. Ward, Jeff Arch 

Starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Rita Wilson, Victor Garber, Rosie O'Donnell, Bill Pullman 

Release Date June 25th, 1993

Published June 26th, 2023 

Losing my mother in 2013 was the hardest thing that I have ever endured. My mom was awesome. She worked three retail jobs, 80 to 90 hours per week, when I was a kid, just to make sure that myself and my sister had food and a good home. All that time, she remained unsinkable in her spirit and love. She was a human teddy bear, soft and comforting. Her worst quality was that when someone she loved was suffering, she would make that suffering her own, as if she could take our pain away by making it her pain. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have had a mom who was so loving and empathetic. 

My mom fostered my love of movies. I have a distinct memory from my childhood of my mother swooning over Cary Grant. I'd make fun of her for her reaction to Cary Grant movies and she would lean into it by talking about how handsome and charming he was in effusive terms. I can recall the first time I saw my mom cry was the day she was supposed to go see Cary Grant's one man show in Davenport, Iowa. That show never happened as Grant died the night before the show was to take place. My mom showed me that para-social relationships with celebrity weren't a bad thing, they were a human thing. 

The movie Sleepless in Seattle, which features prominent references to Cary Grant, became a favorite movie for my mom. She would watch it any chance she got. She didn't love Tom Hanks as she did Cary Grant, but her heart leapt seeing him fall for Meg Ryan at the last minute. She felt the same rush of emotion every time she watched the movie, even as she'd seen it a dozen times and was fully aware that the happy ending was coming. She always got teary when Meg Ryan took Tom Hanks' hand at the end of the movie. It showed me that being emotional about movies was not just okay, but something that just happens when you witness something beautiful. 

Sleepless in Seattle is a beautiful film. It's a celebration of magical romance and believing in something beyond yourself, the notion of fate. The characters of Sam Baldwin and Annie Reed were fated to be together. The universe conspires to unite them. Through the audacity and resolute stubbornness of Sam's son, Jonah, and the good luck that he has a best friend, played by Gaby Hoffman, whose parents are travel agents, Sam and Annie are brought dramatically together on the most romantic day of the year in one of the most romantic spots on the planet. 

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia (2009) 

Directed by Nora Ephron

Written by Nora Ephron

Starring Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, Linda Emond

Release Date August 7th, 2009

Published August 7th, 2009 

Julie Powell did something that I am sure many daily bloggers dream of. Her chronicle of cooking her way through Julia Child's French cookbook earned her national attention and eventually a book and movie deal. The book became a bestseller and now the movie is in theaters with Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and director Nora Ephron.

Whether the movie is successful or even any good doesn't really matter to Julie Powell, she's good.

So what about the movie of her life? Julie and Julia tells the parallel stories of Julie a bureaucratic drone who dreamt of writing novels for a living and Julia Child as she began life as the wife of an ambassador in Paris. Julie failed to find her muse out of college and now sits looking lost as her friends talk of big plans and success. Julia too, is a little lost. With no job and no need for one she is bored.

Thus, both women turn to food for comfort. For Julie comfort comes in the form of successfully adapting one of Julia Child's legendary recipes and deciding to blog about it. For Julia it is the bold move to attend masters classes at the legendary Cordon Bleu despite having no background as a chef.

Will and determination define both women as well as having loving and patient husbands who nurture and support them in whatever they do. The husbands are played by Chris Messina and Stanley Tucci as men just bland enough not to intrude upon their wives spotlights.

Bland is, sadly, an all too appropriate word for the whole of Julie and Julia which unfolds with the tension of a soft, well worn blanket. It's pleasant but there seems to be no real tension. Sure, both women struggle but Julie's struggle is an off-putting battle with her own whiny nature and Julia's battle is never all that well dramatized. We know Julia Child will succeed eventually, the movie merely delays it till the ending.

On the bright side, Meryl Streep brings some joy to the delays. Her Julia Child is vibrant and fun and that voice is simply divine, both homage and parody but never mocking or over played. Meryl Streep has found a joy in performance in the past few years that never seemed present when she was at her dramatic peak.

While other actresses struggle to find a place in the acting world as they age, Streep has transformed herself into a box office star. It's one of the more remarkable under-reported stories in Hollywood: Meryl Streep, box office star. Her audiences love her like they never did when she was the finest actress alive and it is a true joy to behold.

As for Adams, this is a second weak performance following the unfortunate Sunshine Cleaning. At least in that film I didn't feel it was all her fault. Here, well, her Julie is somewhat unpleasant. It's daring for an actress who has built a following by being sweet and spunky to take on such a downbeat, self involved character but that doesn't make it watchable. Julie wears out her welcome quickly and while Streep holds the audience in thrall we endure the Julie portions to get to the Julia stuff.

Nora Ephron has taken a story that was modestly compelling to begin with, Julie Powell's journey in her book is slight but entertaining, and teamed it with Julia Child's biography seemingly because neither story alone was interesting enough to make movies of their own. Both stories lack tension, they lack a real dramatic drive. And thus, instead of one story founding for a reason to exist, we get two.

I admit, I am being a little hard on the movie. I did love Meryl Streep's performance and the movie overall is good natured and breezy. If that is enough for you as a moviegoer , enjoy. If you prefer a story with more meat on its bones see The Hurt Locker or 500 Days of Summer.