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When Harry Met Sally...

When Harry Met Sally...

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Meg Ryan in her best role
Review: Great resturant scene

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I challenge you to watch this movie and NOT quote it!!
Review: A thoroughly enjoyable look at friendship, love and the miles in between. Meg Ryan is wonderful as the uptight, neurotic woman whose relationship with the cynical, flip Billy Crystal begins with a cross-country ride. You will find yourself laughing aloud as you recognize pieces of yourself and others in each of the characters. I don't think there's been a better observation of male-female relationships on the screen.

The diner scene is a classic!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My favorite movie of all time!
Review: This movie is the perfect movie to make you laugh. I watch it every year somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the scene where they pick out a Christmas tree. It draws you into New York the way Sex and the City does. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan were perfect for their roles--I've never liked either of them more than in this movie. Many great quotes came from this movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It Had To Be You.
Review: Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) meet each other after graduating from college. Both are moving to New York City and Harry needs a ride there. Harry learns of Sally through a mutual friend and the mutual friend gets them to ride together across the country to New York City. Before leaving, the two had never met. What follows is a rode trip that firmly embeds each of them in the heart and mind of the other. After getting to New York, they part ways and don't see each other for years. Then a random encounter at the airport brings them together again. Fast-forward five more years and another random encounter brings them together in a bookstore. From there they become friends, then the best of friends, and eventually lovers. The last part of the movie deals with whether two people who are sleeping together can still remain friends.

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY was directed by Rob Reiner and like most of the films from the first half of his career as a director it is a gem. The screenplay was written by Nora Ephron and earned her an Oscar nomination and much of the dialogue in the film is pure gold. Due both to Reiner's direction and Ephron's writing, there is a lot of truthful insights scattered throughout WHEN HARRY MET SALLY. Men and women do think differently at times and the way the two sexes view the world is explored fairly accurately throughout most of the movie. For example, Sally doesn't see herself as a high-maintenance woman, but she really is and as Harry points out high-maintenance women who don't think they are high-maintenance are some of the most difficult women to deal with.

Crystal and Ryan give two of the most memorable, if not meaningful roles of their careers thus far. The movie also offers strong supporting performances by Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby as two friends Harry and Sally try to set each other up with, but who end up falling in love and getting married themselves.

Despite all of the positives there's one thing about WHEN HARRY MET SALLY that bothers me to this day: the sex. Granted that hardly anything is ever shown, but there is a great deal of talk about it. In fact, that's the whole premise of the movie: can a man and a woman be friends without having sex? I admit that I am "old fashioned" in many of my ways, but in my opinion WHEN HARRY MET SALLY would have been an even more powerful, emotional, and truthful movie if Harry and Sally hadn't slept together until after they were married. They have this decade long friendship without having sex, then boom: they have sex and the movie is pretty much over. It seems almost like a cop-out. Still, the movie does a fairly decent examination of the relationships between a man and woman who truly love each other. Plus it's got some great lines and scenes and it has a happy ending. Too bad it couldn't have been a perfect ending.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Witty & Funny
Review: I like romantic comedies as much as I hate to admit it. And I think this is one of my favorite romantic comedies. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan play well...Harry and Sally and both of them deliver really funny performances. This movie is very entertaining and it flows quite well. There isn't a boring scene in this movie. Rob Reiner directs the script by Nora Ephron(Lucky
Numbers). Harry meets Sally when Sally gives him a ride from Chicago to New York. Sally is a little bit neurotic, but Harry still likes her. She doesn't get the same impression however, and once they reach New York they go their separate ways. 5 years later, Harry sees Sally in an airport and they begin talking, Harry is about to get married and Sally wants to. So,
yet again, they go their separate ways. 5 years later they see each other in a book store and hit it off this time and become good friends. This sets up the story. I want to add that a scene
(now famous) where Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm is just...A classic piece of cinema :). But this is a really good movie and its funny too, I guarantee you will love this movie.A-

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love is Hard Work
Review: This movie about trying to find your mate is great! I laugh every time I see Billy Crystal spitting out grape seeds (into the car's window!) Meg Ryan's orgasim scene is classic. The question is can women and men be friends?

Harry and Sally have a ten year relationship and help each other through the trials of dating. Interviews with older couples and the oldies songs add to the movie. You have to love Sally who Harry classifies as "high maintenance who thinks she's a low maintenance."

In my favorite line of the movie, Sally says "I'm not your consolation prize." I think that everyone has had a standby, but this time the friendship turns to love.

Although this is a chick flick, men should enjoy it too.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Probably Ryan's best comic performance
Review: I recently saw three films again. This one which Rob Reiner directed (1989) plus two directed by Norah Ephron: Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You've Got Mail (1998). Each has held up remarkably well. However, if you do not care for the work of Billy Crystal (Harry Burns) and/or Meg Ryan (Sally Albright) and tend to avoid seeing romantic comedies, you will not enjoy this film. Reiner worked with an original screenplay by Ephron and makes brilliant use of Barry Sonnenfeld's talents as a cinematographer. Members of the supporting cast are first-rate, notably Carrie Fisher (Marie) and Bruno Kirby (Jess) who play Sally's and Harry's best friend.

Here's the situation: After graduating from the University of Chicago, Sally accepts a ride from Harry to New York City where both hope to achieve separate but comparable goals. From the moment that Harry and Sally first meet, we just know that they will develop a romantic relationship. It's only a matter of "when," not "if." After several extended conversations during and then following the trip, they agree to become "just friends." Over the years which follow, they encounter each other by chance. Again, casual and cordial conversations in person or by telephone. While Sally never marries, Harry does and then after his divorce....There are several memorable moments as when, in a restaurant, Sally demonstrates how easily a woman can fake an orgasm. Yes, that's Rob Reiner's mother Estelle at a table nearby who, in response, is provided with one of the sharpest lines in the screenplay. As for the ending, I initially found it and still find it contrived, predictable, and thus unsatisfying.

More a quibble than a complaint, and with all due respect to Harry Connick Jr., I also wish that the CD of the soundtrack for this film consisted of the original performances of classics such as It Had to Be You, But Not For Me, Winter Wonderland, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Autumn In New York, I Could Write A Book, Let's Call The Whole Thing Off, It Had To Be You, and Where Or When. That said, I enjoyed seeing this film again and, this time around, I was much more impressed by Ryan's performance which has dimensions and nuances I missed previously. As for Crystal's portrayal of the compulsively verbal Harry, I now find it somewhat tedious, indeed at times irritating. Otherwise, it was pleasant to reconnect with them again, especially in a Manhattan that has never looked better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Aw...you must see this!
Review: When Harry met Sally is a hilariously funny movie about two people who meet on a car ride to New York. Sally, played by Meg Ryan, agrees to give her best friends at-the-time boyfriend, Harry, played by Billy Crystal, a ride to New York, where Sally, too, was headed. This takes place right after Harry and Sally's graduation from the University of Chicago. They talk during the long car ride, but part separate ways when arriving at their destination.
About five years later at an airport they run into each other, but not much is said. It isn't until almost five years after that encounter where they, again, run into each other. This time, though, they exchange words and agree to go get coffee and talk. This is the start of their blossoming friendship. Together, they start spending more and more time together, but only developing a strictly platonic relationship.
This comedy will not only have you cracking up, but will make you think, "Can two people, a man and a woman, manage to have a platonic friendship, with out romance getting involved?
Meg Ryan does a great job playing prissy Sally, who Harry describes as the worst kind of woman: a high maintenance woman who believes she is low maintenance. Sally has to have things just right; her food must be ordered a certain way and she analyzes every relationship. Yet, she still manages to think that she is low maintenance. Harry, on the other hand, is the wise guy of the movie. No matter what's going on, he's always making you laugh. Together, these two, make a great team and develop an unbelievable friendship that someone could only dream of.
This is my absolute favorite movie. There are so many scenes that will have you cracking up and the storyline is amazing. This movie came out in 1989, and since then there are many new movies out with the same plot. Whether you are a man or a woman I think you will enjoy this movie. It takes you through their lives as they both search for love, but fail, bumping into each other time after time. Once they become friends you can't help but keep watching, waiting to find out if the romance ever happens. Many people can relate to this movie because there are many guy/girl relationships that end up developing into a romance.
Something else that I loved about this movie is that every so often it cuts to a scene of a married couple talking about how they met, fell in love, and got married. They were very touching and amusing. The couples were older and it was so cute hearing them talk about their feelings and how they were growing old with each other by their side. It added a little something extra to the movie. It made it unique and the older couples always had something nice and usually funny to say. It was definitely a nice touch added in by director, Rob Reiner.
Like mentioned before, When Harry met Sally was directed by Rob Reiner and written by Nora Ephron. Together these two developed an outstanding movie. It's also nice to know that this movie is some what of an autobiography of Reiner's life. Parts of this movie were compiled from recollections of his actual love life. I didn't know this the first time I watched this movie, but knowing this now makes the movie funnier to me. Overall this is a great movie, but I can't forget to warn you about the restaurant scene. This is definitely the funniest scene, in my opinion, but be careful if you have young children in the room. This scene might not be suitable for them. This is a must see so go out and rent it. You won't be disappointed!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A little on the pessimist side.
Review: I watched this movie about 20 times and still can't figure some things out.

First Crystal, plays a guy ever changing, but something seems to be missing.

Ryan also, seems to change, but it seems her changes are predictable.

I don't know, I thought I liked this movie a lot, but it seems I'm still trying to figure it out.

If anyone has any IDEAs please email me.

-Calvin

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Can Men and Woman Be Friends?...the Answer Lies Within
Review: Fifteen years later, this movie still holds up well despite all the rehashes and knock-offs that came afterward including those starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan themselves. In particular, I'm thinking of "Forget Paris", "Sleepless in Seattle", "French Kiss", "You've Got Mail" and the list goes on. These subsequent and in my opinion, inferior films only reinforce how good this one truly is. The simple concept of believing (or not) that men and women can be friends without facing some sexual tension is definitely worth building a comedy around, and director Rob Reiner and screenwriter Nora Ephron have done a fine job capturing the male/female perspectives in the movie. Some of the observations are priceless. A great example is when in the midst of explaining Ingrid Bergman's appeal in "Casablanca", Harry explains that Sally is the worst kind of female, a high maintenance woman who thinks she is low maintenance. Another one is when Sally describes quite realistically why she broke up with her long-time boyfriend over the freedom they thought they had but could never capitalize on. In between these scenes, Reiner uses a technique that Warren Beatty similarly used in "Reds" - interspersing the story with "real" people illuminating the themes of the story in a documentary-style fashion. It's a nice touch, though they are somewhat hit-and-miss and seem to belabor the same message over and over again.

As for the two stars themselves, this is a textbook example of how the sum truly is more than the individual parts, as above all else, the natural rapport between Crystal and Ryan works nicely for a movie like this. It's a shame they have yet to team up again. Personally, I find Crystal very likeable but not an actor of any real gravity. He has a tendency to deliver lines as if they're part of a stand-up routine, which works fine during the comedy parts. I loved the "...but I will partake of your pecan pie" interchange at the Metropolitan Museum, which sounds very much like one of his bits, or how he reacts and kibitzes during a frustrating game of Pictionary. As Harry, he is one funny guy. However, in the more serious moments, such as his heated frustration over the wagon wheel table or especially when he realizes the errors of his ways at the end, he seems considerably less comfortable. On the other hand, Ryan seems to get what makes her character tick, showing the growth in her oft-frustrated character in an unforced way. This was her first starring role, and she is certainly on full twinkle here. But this time, it works since she exhibits a freshness that makes Sally captivating despite her anal-retentive, perfect-world-aspiring ways. In fact, she inhabits the role so well that she seems to have been doing variations on Sally in her subsequent romantic comedies. And yes, the overly discussed "fake orgasm" scene is still funny after repeated viewings. Bruno Kirby and an especially acerbic Carrie Fisher provide able support in the best friend roles, as they find a much more direct route to their own characters' romance.

The extras on the DVD are not terribly exciting. The making-of documentary seems patched together and doesn't provide much more insight except to make the admission that Reiner was the inspiration for Harry and Ephron for Sally. The deleted scenes, for the most part, are plain awful and just illustrate the wise decision to cut them, and the Harry Connick Jr. video of the old standard "It Had to be You" already seems quite dated. Regardless, this is a film to enjoy for its battery-operated comic banter and its shrewd observations of the male-female psyches. It's a movie you want to visit every once in a while like an old friend.



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