When Harry Met Sally




It's amazing. You look like a normal person but actually you're the angel of death.

The first and last word on the modern romantic comedy.

When Harry (Billy Crystal) met Sally (Meg Ryan), not a lot happened, at least initially. Harry's love-to-be-depressed personality and Sally's neat, upbeat, and seemingly imperturbable disposition don't exactly make for the fastest of friends. But friends they do become as the years pass and their meetings become more frequent, whilst they doeth trade insightful philosophies of relationships.

And not only is it insightful, at least regarding select segments of love, but it's also uproariously funny, thanks in large part to Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron being in their top form. And though this is not quite a perfect movie, all of the elements are just so confident and perfect for each other that it's exceedingly difficult to imagine ways it could've been any better. Clean is the word that consistently comes to mind. It's a clean, right down to business kind of film that's not overly concerned with anything outside of the pertinent material to the two characters and all of their ups and downs. As we track Harry and Sally through two very distinct decades (and kudos for making them actually look like they're aging), the central question of whether men and women can truly be friends because of the whole sex thing is tested, and it's hardly ever clear if there's going to be a happy ending. And while that's the make or break point in any romantic comedy, it's hardly the pivotal point of the narrative, which goes so much deeper, all while being deceptively simple. The music's also pretty good and the various couple commentaries sweet.

Billy Crystal is of course himself and immensely funny as the cynical but caring wise guy. He's one of the few that could pull off such a tight ropewalk between keeping us hating him and loving him. But that job is reserved for Meg Ryan, his absolute polar opposite. Needless to say she's also pretty fantastic, and their chemistry is undeniable, at least to everyone else but them. Forget Tom Hanks. Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher are also decent.

This is just one of those rare films that still seems fresh after nearly two decades and counting, which is ironic considering how it's endlessly been imitated ever since.



-The Gnome