You've Got Mail

Rating:
Summary: Good Remake of a Classic
Review: You Got Mail is a wonderful movie, but it is hardly an original story. The screenplay is losely based on 1949 classic "In the Good Old Summertime" starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson. Both Garland and Johnson work together in a music store and unknowingly begin to have romantic correspondances. They bicker endlessly, but begin to fall in live even before they realize they had been writting to each other the whole time. There are several scenes directly used in the picture, including the wonderful coffee house scene where Hanks badgers Ryan about her mysterious date. What makes You got Mail work is the sappy romance this duo created in Sleepless..." and carry over to this movie. Very enjoyable, but certainly check out the original if you have the time. (note: I would have loved Meg Ryan trying some of Garlands dance numbers)

Rating:
Summary: Silly Romantic Fun
Review: I can think of several reasons to dislike this movie, but in spite of those reasons, I keep watching this movie over and over again. My wife and daughter seem to like it even more than I do, so perhaps my dislikes come from my male viewpoint.

Meg Ryan plays third generation independent bookstore owner Kathleen Kelly. When a brand new Fox Bookstore opens around the corner, Kathleen's bookstore is doomed by high volume low cost books. Into Kathleen's bookstore comes none other than one of the owners of Fox Bookstore, Joe Fox (Tom Hanks). Through a coincidence Joe and Kathleen meet on the internet and are soon e-mailing and chatting with each other regularly. At first they do not know who each other is on the internet. Joe then finds out that Kathleen is the women with whom he has been conversing on the internet. Now the fun and silliness begins.

Joe talks in person with Kathleen, but in his early conversations Kathleen dislikes him for what he has done to her bookstore, which she regards as her heritage. But eventually the two start to become friendly. Joe teases Kathleen constantly about the person with whom she is communicating, and falling in love with, on the internet. Kathleen defends her internet partner and becomes more attracted to him daily. Joe gets to play both sides, and of course he then knows all the answers to the questions he asks each way.

My biggest dislike is that I thought Joe should have told Kathleen sooner that he was the person with whom she was communicating on the internet. I saw Joe's hiding of the truth as tormenting Kathleen, which I saw as a bit cruel and manipulative. Unfortunately, the premise of the movie, especially the ending, requires Kathleen not know it is Joe until the very end.

My other dislike is that Kathleen is obviously quite intelligent. Yet she ignores the fact that Joe seems to be so predictive of what Kathleen's internet partner is saying and vice versa. I would have thought that at least Kathleen should have been suspicious, but she does not seem to get suspicious until near the very end of the movie, when it was about time to resolve the deception anyway.

Of course, the whole point of the movie and the reason it works is that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks have such likable honest charm and natural acting skill that they make you believe this situation could happen. Once you've seen the wonderful, romantic ending you are willing to forgive that the basic premise of the movie is unrealistic. It seems silly to me that there are parts of the movie that make me cringe, and yet I keep watching it over and over because I love the fun and happy with tears ending, which seems to make it all worthwhile. A sure hit with romantics everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Straight to Landfill Release
Review: It is difficult to redeem a movie as deeply disturbing as You've Got Mail. And I don't mean to knock the reviewers here who said they liked it. If you bracket the disturbing political messages of the movie and just talk about the "romantic" part then, yeah, sure it's ok. But...

I'd have to say that a 119 minute commercial for AOL, Starbuck's coffee and Giant MegaBookstore Corp. was just too much to bear. What was Nora Ephron thinking?

The political message of You've Got Mail seems to be that corporate monoculture (as embodied by AOL/Starbucks/Barnes&Noble/etc.) is really just grand. That if you're a small bookstore (or coffeestore owner, or whatever) owner trying to survive against mega-conglamorates that as long as you fall in love with the enemy that it's all ok.

Kathleen Kelly's (Meg Ryan's character) consciousness of the real political struggle facing small business owners is staggeringly shallow. There is no small irony that she and Joe Fox (Hanks' character) can go to the same Starbucks and she is oblivious to the parallels between her choice of coffee and the choice she expects her customers to make when they buy books.

That irrepressible scene toward the end of the film when she loses her business and goes in to Joe Fox's Mega-Book Corp's store is enough to make one physically ill. She sees, lo and behold, that Mega-Book Corp really can be a wonderful, caring place. It's enough to make her forget that she's just lost her business she'd developed for years. And the thing that moves her to this new state of unconsciousness? Love for Mr. Joe Fox. Wow!

I'm not saying that Norma Ephron needed to make a politically engaged story. It is a romantic movie, after all. But why a long commercial for conglamorates like AOL and Starbucks?

Rating:
Summary: Why we drink Starbucks
Review: Somehow I love this movie. It's a great love story about two people who hate each other but do end up together.

Meg Ryan (who'se very pretty in this movie) runs a local bookstore that is going out of business because Tom Hanks is building a big Barnes and Noble style bookstore around the corner. They end up in a battle.

They also talk to people online, like so many of us do. They like each other online but for a long time did not know who the others really were. Tom Hanks finds out and plays with it.

There are some great scenes: Tom Hanks's emails about the Godfather and Starbucks coffee (do a search online for the words) are funny. We go to Starbucks so we still have the idea that we have our own life in our hands, that we can make our own decisions.

Great movie for lazy saturday nights.

Rating:
Summary: Meg and Tom light up the screen.
Review: You've Got Mail is a perky romantic comedy that is really a tourism boost for New York City. The movie is like a cup of coffee. It is rarely dismal. The movie is probably the most charming film I have ever seen in my life. Tom Hanks is the funny average business man. He is almost like the good side of Donald Trump. Meg Ryan is the cute little shop owner we have all come across at one time or another. The two meet in the most clever of ways, E-Mail. The film is really good to watch when you are upset, and it is also a really good date movie.

Rating:
Summary: 3rd Time is a Charm
Review: Sometimes Hollywood does something right in returning to the old fashion love story with layers of reference & meaning. Invite your special other, get the popcorn, & watch this well made chic flick.

This is Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan's third romantic comedy together. The first was "Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)" which was made before the duo were 'Mega Stars' creating a mystical if not mythical movie about losing the American Dream with its dead end jobs & forced neurosis. Many people didn't understand that this movie was created as a farce, therefore it was not a box office hit. Then came "Sleepless in Seattle (1993)" with the ingenious writing & directing of Nora Ephron about a man who loses his loving wife to cancer promising he will never fall in love again while taking care of their only son, moving away from everything that reminds him of his lost. Until one night his son calls a talk radio station asking the radio host Dr Marcia Fieldstone to help his father get over his sleepless nights & find a new wife...this starts the whole story moving with references to an old Cary Grant movie "An Affair to Remember (1957)" creating layers of clever dialog & acting. This process of style is repeated with greater perfection on "You're Got Mail".

At first "Sleepless in Seattle" seems to be the better movie, because of its focused play out of "An Affair to Remember", but if you watch "You're Got Mail" several times, you will start to understand its more subtle & multi references, that it becomes a deeper film.

This time around the references are to the movies "The Godfather (1970)" & "Shop Around the Corner (1940)" intermixed with the newer upper social scene in New York City's 'West Side' (another reference to 'West Side Story'?). Tom Hanks plays Joe Fox (F-O-X) a multi millionaire businessman who views the movie "The Godfather" as the 'I Ching' (a Chinese divination book of wisdom) as the business bible, overtaking his competition without being 'Personal'. He is in a dead end relationship with the cruel, hurried, & self-focused book publisher Patricia Eden acted by Parker Posey. Meanwhile Meg Ryan plays Kathleen Kelly, a cute no-nonsense blonde who inherited her mother's children bookstore 'A Shop Around the Corner'. She is also in a dead end relationship with the Heideggerian (a 20th century German Philosopher against technology) social commentator & typewriter lover Frank Navasky acted by Greg Kinnear. Now for the plot...

Both Joe Fox & Kathleen Kelly, one night on a fluke, met in an Internet chat room 'Over 30' & become modern pen pals via the computer. Little do they realize that they live in the same neighborhood, sometimes walking by each other in the busy streets of New York City. Both are doing well in their business, but Joe Fox's fast growing large modern discount bookstore with cappuccino maker is building a new branch a few blocks away from Kathleen Kelly's small old fashion children's specialty bookstore. Joe Fox meets Kathleen Kelly in real life at her store when taking care of his younger stepbrother & his younger aged aunt. Joe Fox's stepbrother has just learned to spell his last name F-O-X, & Joe tries to hide the fact from Kathleen. Later they both meet at a book publishing party & Kathleen discovers 'just call me Joe' is really Joe Fox (F-O-X). Lines are drawn & later war is declared as Kathleen's business fails. The developing plot & dialog become very humorous especially when Joe discovers his true love from the Internet is really Kathleen when they play out the movie "A Shop Around the Corner". All ends well when Kathleen puts it all together at the last touching scene.

There is more to this movie that makes it a repeatable watcher. If you become tried of it, put it away for a few months & return for added enjoyment.

From a statement from "Sleepless in Seattle": 'One of my wife's favorite.'

Rating:
Summary: Romancing the kryptonite
Review: The bookend piece to SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, this latter day pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is SEATTLE's superior in many regards. Most obviously, Ryan and Hanks actually have a real life relationship throughout the course of the movie, not just a brief meeting at the end. Also the supporting characters are more satisfying. They do a generally better job than SEATTLE's to help us understand what Hanks and Ryan are looking for, and why it seems to take an inordinate length of time for them to drop the cyber charade and come clean. Each of the major supporting characters has a role to play in pushing the two characters towards their ultimate destiny. To be sure, the character types are quite similar to those found in SLEEPLESS, but they're somehow more fully realized here. Jean Stapleton, Greg Kinnear and Dabney Coleman are all interesting voices that we want to hear.

But I think what I like the most about MAIL is that though the film is purportedly a remake of THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, the love story is strangely more akin to SUPERMAN. Ryan is Lois Lane, having to fall in love with Hanks' Clark Kent, a man who is the opposite of everything she admires. Yet if affection can grow, Hanks will reveal his true identity and let her meet her cyber hero. In short, it's an unoriginal device done creatively.

And that's pretty much what all great romance is.

[DVD NOTES: What was a respectable, and even innovative, collection of extras at thte time of release has lost some of its luster as more innovative DVDs have been released in the past few months. Still, there's an interesting documentary and commentary that make it worth purchasing on DVD ]

Rating:
Summary: Tom and Meg, Together Again
Review: It's hard to explain why I like this movie as much as I do. I suppose I'm a sucker for light hearted romantic comedies. Indeed, if I'm in the mood for something funny, comforting and familiar, You've Got Mail is almost always in the top 10. This is not to say that it's one of the 10 greatest films, it's not.

Now, in 2004, the dial up AOL accounts are being phased out. I'm not sure what the status of the chat rooms are anymore. So, yes, the premise is now a bit dated. Still, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan work great together.

If this is what you're in the mood for, You've Got Mail is still a good way to spend a couple of hours, get a couple of laughs in, and not be challenged too much,

Rating:
Summary: LOVED IT!
Review: One of the sweetest movies I've ever seen. Meg Ryan is a beauty and for those of us who love NYC, it was a treat. I've watched it several times and am so glad someone sent me a free copy because I probably would not have been interested in it. The music was great and it was just an upbeat movie that makes you feel good.

Rating:
Summary: A sweet romantic comedy
Review: Since Meg Ryan usually irritates the hell out of me, I didn't think I'd care for this movie. I finally sat down and watched it, though, and I'm glad I did! It's a very cute love story that I enjoy watching over and over again.

The reason I dislike Ryan so much is because she seems to always play the same type of character in every movie, but in this case it works really well. Ryan plays Kathleen Kelly, an independent bookstore owner who is being forced out of business by Fox Books, a large chain of stores (similar to Borders) owned by Joe Fox (Tom Hanks). Kathleen and Joe run into each other several times, and even though they are attracted to each other at first, those feeling turn to mutual disgust as they engage in the battle of the books. However, both Joe and Kathleen are in dead-end relationships, and they meet each other in a chat room and start communicating regularly via email, not knowing each other's true identity. Joe eventually figures out the truth, and he has to decide if he wants to pursue these feelings that he's developed for Kathleen online, even though they can't stand each other in real life.

At first it bugged me that Joe played around with Kathleen for the second half of the movie, witholding information from her about who he really was. However, there's really no other way he could have handled it: if he had told Kathleen the truth right away, she likely would have been disgusted by him and tossed him aside. Instead Joe decided to test the waters with her and see if they could spark any real chemisty in real life and not just over the Internet. The end result is pretty cliche, but the final scene will generate a lot of "Awwws!" from romantics in the audience.