Sleepless in Seattle

Rating:
Summary: A Laugh-Out-Loud Funny Charmer
Review: First of all, Sleepless in Seattle IS a chick flick, yes, and there are certainly some stretches of the imagination required as far as plot goes, but the real emphasis is the characters, and that is the strength of the movie...the entire cast is excellent, from Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks to the supporting cast (Rosie O'Donnell, Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger and Robert Reiner). The story and chemistry is charming, but more than that, the movie is hysterical. Everytime I watch the movie again (I've seen it about 5 or 6 times now) I realize how funny it is...Nora Ephron may be the best current writer of real romantic comedies. There are SO many funny little things scattered throughout the movie...even if you don't like "chick flicks," you should watch it because it's one of the funniest movies ever.

Rating:
Summary: Ah, you can sleep through it.
Review: This ultimate "chick flick" engenders as much incredulity as you'd suppose, but then again, chick flicks by definition do that. More upsetting to the unbiased movie-watcher (i.e., those with no partisanship for chick flicks, as that genre is commonly defined) is the distressing lack of subtlety in terms of the movie's calculated effects: this is the kind of movie that MUST have *As Time Goes By* tinkling on the soundtrack; that MUST include cutesy animated effects like the dot-dot-dots representing a passenger plane's trajectory over the country, to say nothing of the gigantic red valentine glowing from the office windows of the Empire State Building. (That being said, *Sleepless in Seattle* IS beautifully photographed by Sven Nykvist, long-time cinematographer for Ingmar Bergman.) The plot involves a young widower (Tom Hanks) and his 8-year-old son who have recently uprooted to Seattle from Chicago after the wife / mother's untimely death. Bet on it: she's recalled in flashbacks smothered in warm, sepia tones. After a year in Seattle, in which they live on some sort of fabulous house-boat thing or other, the bratty kid decided it's high time his dad got re-married, and so he calls a nationwide late-night radio talk show, in the hopes of fixing his dad up with a new wife. (What kid would do something like this?) Hanks gets corralled into talking to the show's host, reveals his sensitivity in lines that only women (Nora and Delia Ephron) could write, and soon finds himself the subject of romantic fantasies of women all over the country . . . including a newspaper reporter in Baltimore (Meg Ryan). Well, that's the movies. Fine. But what's puzzling is why Nora Ephron makes such a big point about how romance in Real Life never measures up to romance in movies (*An Affair to Remember* is the yardstick), when she has clearly made a film in which romance in Real Life DOES measure up to romance in movies, right down to the copycat plot finale. This seems to me far more cynical than Meg Ryan and her girlfriends cynically griping about romance. The real stuff is in the parts; the whole is rather a sell-out.

Rating:
Summary: Less Apeealing.
Review: I still liked this movie by Nora Ephron but it was more formulatic of a romance story. I personally liked When Harry Met Sally better. This movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is about a husband who has lost his wife and is depressed then calls in a shrink on the radio and gets thousands of letters. Of course there is always a snotty little kid that annoyed every one of his dates until he met the Meg Ryan character. They meet on the Empire State Building and they fall in Love. I also thought this movie had to many songs in it, they should have cut down. I like the DVD and the transition into widescreen. I always love widescreen.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Romantic Comedies Ever!
Review: I love this movie! Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan are perfect together. I love this type of movie where even where there is a sad moment that it quickly smoothed over so it totally feel good...like the old-time movies. It's timeless!

Rating:
Summary: It's a classic!
Review: Who could find fault with this movie? The Hanks/Ryan teaming is a sure thing. The whole play on "An Affair to Remember" is cute. The sound track is even great. It's a classic chick flick that is worth watching over and over.

Rating:
Summary: Asleep in seat
Review: Maybe I am among the few, but I call it as I see it, and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE bored me. Sure, the Tom Hanks character's wife died, and that's tragic, but his feeling sorry for himself did not win my support.

I have nothing against blind dates. But if you expect me to believe that any sane woman will travel out of state to meet some sad-sack she heard on the radio, you've seen too many movies. Or at least one too many - SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE.

Rating:
Summary: Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan give charming and sweet performances!
Review: I still love this movie! "Sleepless in Seattle" is still one of the best romantic films that I have seen since...ever! The performances in the film were top-notch and the storyline was terrific! To me, this film talks about two things...fate and destiny. "Sleepless" focuses on Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks), a recently widowed father who, because of the death of his wife Maggie (Carey Lowell), decides to move out to Seattle with his son Jonah (Ross Malinger) to start over again. One night, Jonah calls a talk radio show, who asks Sam to come to the phone and explain everything. So Sam sat down and talked about everything that he and his wife had done over the past few years, how he loved her, and such. Sam's story was such a big hit across America that women have been pouring letters of comfort at Sam's home. The story has also reached the heart of a newspaper writer named Annie Reed (Meg Ryan). Annie is single, lives in New York, and is engaged to a man named Walter (Bill Pullman), who is pretty much allergic to everything. After hearing Sam's story on the radio that night, Annie believes that she and Sam are destined to be together, due to typical Hollywood romance from such films as, for example, "An Affair to Remember". And romantic charm and trouble ensues from there on as, for example, Annie goes to Seattle to sort of "spy" on Sam to see what he is like, especially with his son, etc. "Sleepless in Seattle" marks the second teaming of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan from their first hit, "Joe Versus the Volcano" in 1990, and before they starred a third time in 1998's "You've Got Mail", which is directed by "Sleepless" director Nora Ephron ("This is My Life"). And speaking of the director, she directed this film with a lot of heart, soul, and emotion. Nora Ephron's best work to date! "Sleepless in Seattle" has also the absolute best performances of all time from Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I kind of liked the way that Meg Ryan's hair looked in the film. To me, you don't get to see Meg Ryan with hair like that a lot. I like this film because it is one of those films where two people eventually cross paths continuously, and in the end, they meet each other for the first time and live happily ever after! I really hope that there is a sequel to this film in the making, but if there isn't, then I will still enjoy "Sleepless in Seattle" for years to come!

Rating:
Summary: One giant leap for fantasy romance...
Review: Would Bill Pullman's character (Walter) really be so nonchalant about losing his fiancee and letting her run through the streets of New York to the Empire State Building to meet someone who might be a possible homicidal maniac? -point blank, NO. Sleepless in Seattle doesn't succeed on reality, it captures our hearts in fantasy. A couple, or a single person will find this both a tear-jerker and a means of hope. This is one of the truly blessed movies sharing company with "Ghost," "Indecent Proposal," "When Harry Met Sally," and "You've Got Mail." A great story for couples, and a healthy story for singles.

***The reviewer is author of: Amber Spirit: Poems & Stories (Hats Off Books, 2001) and a frequent magazine contributor & short story contest judge.

Rated and reviewed by ROBERT ELDRIDGE

Rating:
Summary: Sleepless in Seattle
Review: This movie is really about the magic of the romance, a special comuncation between people than one day will be together, because was writting in the stars....Meg Ryan has a wonderful interpretation , about one woman than feel your truely love in the another side of the country. She really trusts in her intuition, like the little boy. Tom Hanks always a great actor,he is very good in this movie, unhappy se could not read what was writting in the stars because the pain in your heart was very strong...But, happy end....The smart little boy helps his father, end the love happened for him once again.

Rating:
Summary: if I had 3 thumbs they'd all be up!
Review: This movie is, if not already, a classic.

Sam, Annie and Jonah are wonderfully quirky characters that mesh together like it was..... "magic".

Must see if you like "An Affair To Remember" with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr!