Year:
1989
Studio:
Metro Goldwin Mayer/
Castle Rock
Entertainment
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
2/5
Movie
"When Harry Met Sally" is a romantic comedy about how two people can
meet and take a long time to connect. Harry (Billy Crystal) is "the
male", the guy who says that men can't just be friends to women. It's
all about sex. Sally (Meg Ryan) is... "the female" I suppose. But not
so much "the female" as "the friend", someone who values friendship and
doesn't want to ruin it with sex.
They meet and make bad impressions on each other. They meet again five
years later and again they leave with bad impressions. Five years later
they meet one more time and this time they find common ground. They
become friends -- friends who set each other up on dates, friends who
you can confide with, and platonic friends at that. Then one night of
passion threatens to ruin everything. Or is it just Fate telling them
to look again at your best friend, look at them in a different light?
The story is mostly dialogue. Harry and Sally in different places and
talking to each other. Conversational stuff. Stuff that slowly defines
a character. Interspersed are little vignettes where older couples talk
about how they first met and fell in love, the movie ending with Harry
and Sally being the last couple interviewed.
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Actors
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Hmm, I don't know if there was actually
chemistry there. But I guess that's part of the point of the movie,
sometimes the unlikeliest of couples fall in love and get married.
Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby were fantastic as the friends of Sally
and Harry, respectively. Not once did I think of Princess Leia, but
then again I'm old.
DVD
Director Rob Reiner's commentary is sparse. Very sparse. But when he
does talk it's interesting. There are eight deleted scenes which are
actual scenes. Nothing else of note.
Recommendations
This is one of the somewhat classic modern day romantic comedies.
Personally I think the story style definitely looks dated. It's still a
nice movie to watch on cable if you haven't seen it. But buy the DVD? I
don't think so. |