WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... RATING: 10 / 10 --> Perfect movie
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One way to determine how great a movie is, would be to calculate its re-watchability quotient. I have seen this film over thirty times since its inception, and have no qualms about watching it another hundred times in my lifetime. It's a classic romantic comedy that is impeccably written, wonderfully acted and beautifully shot under a fantastic musical umbrella of love, fate and supreme friendship.
PLOT: After College, two strangers named Harry and Sally drive from Chicago to New York together and garner very little interest in each another. Five years later, they meet again in an airport, with even less sparks flying this time around. It isn't until another five years goes by, that Harry, now divorced, and Sally, just getting off a five-year relationship, become friends, and ultimately...much better friends.
CRITIQUE: This film is the ultimate romantic comedy for all those people who don't think that they will ever find anyone that is right for them. It isn't based on the notion of the proverbial "love at first sight", but rather about the more typical love that grows between two people who spend a lot of time together, support one another through thick and thin, depend on each other as best friends, and ultimately care more about each other than anyone else in the world. Reminiscent of Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL (8/10), this is the movie that sent Meg Ryan into cute, romantic, comedy movie star heaven, and confirmed Billy Crystal as a viable romantic lead. The script is an excellent breakdown of timeless conversations between the sexes ("Can men and women ever be friends without sex getting in the way?" and "Will a one-night stand with your best friend ultimately ruin your friendship?"), witty repartee between the two leads, and a beautifully constructed love story that is carefully assembled over time, and gently eases you into the wonder of that thing called love.
This movie also offers one of the most romantic soundtracks that you'd ever want to hear via a career-launching effort by Harry Connick Jr., an endless array of picturesque scenes featuring the wonderful world of New York Christmas at its best, quotable dialogue galore, and solid supporting performances from Bruno Kirby and Princess-Leia-for-life, Carrie Fisher. The only complaint that I have about this movie is that it is only ninety minutes long. Other than that, it delivers a timeless tale of a charming couple falling in love, intercut with various couples relating their own accounts of l'amour de leur vie, with humor laced through every scene, and a tangible sense of hope for all those who still believe in great friends, fate and love.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: The lady who says "I'll have what she's having" in the infamous Meg Ryan "faking an orgasm" scene is none other that Estelle Reiner, director Rob Reiner's own mom. Rob's daughter with former wife and director in her own right, Penny Marshall (Laverne from TV's "Laverne & Shirley"), also stars in this film as Emily. She is dating Harry in one scene at Jess and Marie's home. Penny Marshall and Rob Reiner were married for eight years from 1971 to 1979. Screenwriter Nora Ephron went on to write and direct two very similar, but not nearly as good, romantic comic tales called SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (6.5/10) and YOU'VE GOT MAIL (5.5/10). Her script for WHEN HARRY MET SALLY nabbed her an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 1989 Academy Awards. It lost to Tom Shulman's script for DEAD POET'S SOCIETY. Notice how the last names of the two main characters are reflective of their attitudes in life. Billy Crystal as Harry BURNS, and Meg Ryan as Sally ALBRIGHT. There is one scene in which Billy Crystal's character can clearly be seen reading Stephen King's MISERY, which would ultimately be director Rob Reiner's next picture. This film surprisingly grossed close to $93 Million at the box-office, and was one of Barry Sonnenfeld's last as a cinematographer as he went on to direct such films as the two ADDAMS FAMILY flicks, GET SHORTY and MEN IN BLACK (7/10). The "real-life" couples featured in the intercut scenes telling their stories of love, are actually actors.
Review Date: April 11, 1999
Director: Rob Reiner
Writer: Nora Ephron
Producers: Rob Reiner and Andrew Sheinman
Actors: Billy Crystal as Harry Burns
Meg Ryan as Sally Albright
Carrie Fisher as Marie
Bruno Kirby as Jess
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Year of Release: 1989
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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