YOU'VE GOT MAIL
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Two rivals in the book business do
not realize that each's secret Internet pen pal is
the other. This remake of the 1940 Lubitsch comedy
THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER has been modified to be
more timely with the addition to the script of the
issue of super-store bookstores squeezing out small
independent book stores. This is probably the best
version of this story. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are
as always a good romantic team. Rating: 7 (0 to
10), low +2 (-4 to +4)
New York Critics: 7 positive, 7 negative, 7 mixed
I suppose if a filmmaker is going to remake a classic film, this is the right way to do it. Ernst Lubitsch's SHOP AROUND THE CORNER is a decent film, but I have never heard of anyone loving it so much that they could not stand to see other actors in similar roles. And it was, in fact, remade as a musical in 1949, IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME. Neither film really developed the idea much beyond being a simple ironic situation. Two shop clerks in the same store hate each other and each loves a pen pal that he/she has never met. Of course it turns out they are writing to each other, and somehow it is assumed that the inner person is represented by the writing and not the actual person. YOU'VE GOT MAIL takes the same situation and expands on it, using the anonymity of electronic communications on the Internet. The film also looks at the issue of big superstore bookstores chasing out smaller independent bookstores. In particular the plot may have inspired by the incident when a new Barnes and Noble superstore in Manhattan drove a much-loved children's bookstore, Eeyore Books, out of business.
Kathleen Kelly (played by Meg Ryan) is the second-generation owner of The Shop Around the Corner, a children's bookstore in Manhattan that has become something of a neighborhood institution. Parents who used to come to the bookstore as children now bring their children to discover the world of reading. But the bookshop is in trouble. Fox, a chain of bookstores, is putting a superstore just around the corner from The Shop Around the Corner. The competition may well drive the little bookstore out of business. But even while her professional life is in trouble Kathleen is developing an e-mail-based relationship with a pen pal over the Internet. The man she knows only as "NY152" is a decent and witty person. Little does Kathleen realize that NY152 is really Tom Fox (Tom Hanks) the third generation owner of the Fox bookstore chain. In the flesh Tom Fox represents to Kathleen everything that is going wrong with the book industry. Small caring bookstores are being replaced by Goliaths with know-nothing clerks, big comfy chairs, and cappuccino bars. Though Kathleen is living with writer Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear) and Tom is living with editor Patricia Eden (Parker Posey), they carry on a secret electronic relationship. The artificial excitement of the AOL voice saying, "You've got mail!" becomes almost a metaphor for the loveless by-the-numbers relationships into which each has fallen. It is counterpoint to what they feel writing to each other, flirting with the idea of meeting, but afraid to dispel the magic. In fact, much of the best writing of the film is in the little essays that each sends the other. At times the discussions are reminiscent of those in 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD.
This is the third screen teaming of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The first time they were together was in JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO, a film so offbeat that it never found an audience. (By the way, if you get a chance, rent this film. The writing is occasionally lame but more frequently wonderful.) Their second romantic teaming was, of course, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, a film not up to its reputation, but still a gem. There certainly is chemistry between Hanks and Ryan as strong as Gable's and Lombard's. YOU'VE GOT MAIL is a light and tasty little romantic recipe for the holidays. Still, it is the most thoughtful of the three film versions of this particular story. I rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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