When Harry Met Sally…

Director:
Rob Reiner

Writer:
Nora Ephron

Cast:
Billy Crystal as Harry Burns
Meg Ryan as Sally Albright
Carrie Fisher as Marie
Bruno Kirby as Jess

Released: 1989
Studio: Columbia
Box Office: $92,823,546

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
IMDB Score: 7.7

Date Seen: July 26, 2009
Format: DVD

Countless movies have tries to capture the magic presented in a film like When Harry Met Sally…. The story of two people who initially hate each other but (SPOILER ALERT!!) eventually fall in love. Two current releases, The Proposal and The Ugly Truth, follow this same formula, but not nearly as well as When Harry Met Sally…. This movie was Meg Ryan’s coming out party as the queen of romantic comedies.

As a person who does not generally like rom-coms, I didn’t know how I would like this movie. I was pleasantly surprised. The film is set up as kind of a series of episodes chronicling how Harry and Sally met and (SPOILER ALERT!!) fell in love. Harry is a neurotic political consultant and Sally is an equally neurotic journalist. They believe that men and women can not be friends without sex getting in the way. This holds true until they learn that they actually (SPOILER ALERT!!) love each other. Unlike other similar movies, even though I knew the eventual outcome, I enjoyed the process of getting to the end. I cared for these characters and actually wanted them to end up together.

The dialogue is witty and humerous. Full of quotable lines and catchy phrases. The following quote fully explains Harry’s reasoning why men and women cant be friends.

Yes, that’s right, they can’t be friends. Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can… This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted… That doesn’t work either, because what happens then is, the person you’re involved with can’t understand why you need to be friends with the person you’re just friends with. Like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do you have to go outside to get it? And when you say “No, no, no it’s not true, nothing is missing from the relationship,” the person you’re involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you’re just friends with, which you probably are. I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let’s face it. Which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can’t be friends.

Overall this was a pleasurable movie watching experience and one that has made me want to give some other romantic comedies a watch.

Favorite Performance:
Meg Ryan as Sally Albright

Favorite Quote:
Harry Burns: Had my dream again where I’m making love, and the Olympic judges are watching. I’d nailed the compulsories, so this is it, the finals. I got a 9.8 from the Canadians, a perfect 10 from the Americans, and my mother, disguised as an East German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount.

Grade:
B+

Recommendation:
Great movie to watch with a significant other.