SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE
A film review by Jon Webb
Copyright 1993 Jon Webb
Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are destined for each other, though they haven't met. Meg becomes aware of Tom when he discusses his former marriage on a call-in radio show and becomes known as "Sleepless in Seattle".
This movie is much like MADE IN HEAVEN in the view it presents of love: that it is perfect, unchangeable, and that for every man there is exactly one woman, and vice versa. An oddly constant view (with no basis in reality, that I can think of) from Hollywood, by the way: I can think of dozens of films that present the same idea, from DAMAGE to A STRANGER AMONG US.
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE is filled with Nora Ephron's own pleasant sense of humor, e.g., the running joke on AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER being deeply loved by women but not understood by men. It's a cute movie, somewhat thin on plot--after all, everything that happens is designed to bring Ryan and Hanks together at the end of the film, so nothing else matters.
I would say that the final meeting is flubbed from a directorial point of view. It should be a soaring moment, comparable to the great uplifting moments from old romantic movies, but instead it is only a little sweet.
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan play their stereotyped characters, Ryan a little more obviously than Hanks. She's fun to watch, but I wonder if she can do anything other than act loopy (PRELUDE TO A KISS wasn't encouraging).
What I think this movie lacks most is some sort of hard edge. It should have some believable tension; Ryan's fiancee is never a credible threat.
But it's still a great date movie.
-- J
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