Sensation in the Sitting room (Sleepless in Seattle (DVD))

Member Name: shadowhawk

Product:	Sleepless in Seattle (DVD)
Date:	01/06/04 (561 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Film, Real tear gerker

Disadvantages: Not multi-purpose

First thing I think I need to sort out before I start this review is that I am what is consider to be a metrosexual man, a straight man with homosexual tendencies. I am not quite sure why I am this way maybe its modern society, maybe it is living in Brighton maybe it was that I was brought up by my mother who knows but I like that I am not the normal meat headed guy.

Sleepless in settle is one of my favourite films of all time, first time I saw it was with a lady friend, must have been 5th of 6th date she invited me over to hers because I doubted her cooking skills after she tried cooking at my house and she wanted to prove me wrong. So she called some beef dish it was very nice and afterwards we slapped on a film and curled up on the couch (they were the days I miss dating). My First thought was that this was going to be one of those total girl flicks that only girls really get and blokes just learn to tolerate because ladies like to watch them. But it turns out to be one of my favourite films of all time, when of those must sees like the Matrix, Titanic, Snatch and Fight Club.

~ Main Cast. ~
Tom Hanks - Sam Baldwin
Ross Malinger ? Jonah Baldwin
Meg Ryan ? Annie Reed
Teddy ? Henry The Bear (Jonahs teddy)


~ Main Plot. ~
This is no give away:
The story is about a man and his son whom move to the city after the death of the mother from Chicago to Settle. The husband Sam Baldwin has a real hard problem moving on after the death of his wife. So his concerned son Jonah phones into a chat therapist radio station and makes his Dad talk about his problems. The film is about two people whom seemed destined for each other and how will they get together, if they ever do.

~ Music.
~
The music is simply moving; it comes in at the right moments. It assists the mood of the film very well.

~ Acting. ~
A very moving performance from all the acting not a single weak point I could find. Even Ross Malinger provides a moving performance as the child; a lot of children provide such stale performance like the kid in home alone. Tom Hanks is one of my favourite actors I think he can show emotion in films really well, and Meg Ryan provides a great performance as her quirky character. Even the side actors portray their characters astonishingly, with Nile from Fraiser, the mother from six foot under.

~ Audience. ~
Great film for maybe a more mature audience then the normal teenager. You will like this if you like ?You?ve got mail? of if you liked that film you will like this one.

~ Use. ~
Not very good if you have a lot of mates over but if there is just 2 or 3 of you in not much of a social mood then this film is perfect.

~ Boring Stat Bits. ~
Certificate: Parental Guidance (PG) General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children.
Running Time: 101 mins (approx)
Made: 1993
Mark: National Captioning Institute (NCI)
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Cinema Club
Company: Columbia Tri-Star
Director: Nora Ephron
Produced By: Gary Foster

~ Final Opinion. ~
Amazing film, great story with great acting. A film that you must really see once in your life, romantic comedy.

~ Detailed Plot ~
If you want to watch the film do not read this look for the fancy line.
It starts of in Chicago with Jonah and Sam just after the funeral of Margaret their husba
nd and the kids mother. Jonah and Sam have a conversation about the death of Margaret where Sam explains:
?It isn?t fair, there is no reason, if we start asking why we?ll go crazy?
Which for a start to a film I felt was really deep but it really does set the mood for the film. Plus the line is very truthful sometimes there is no reason why we just have to get on with things and not ask why.
Sam really starts cracking up at work with all the little small talk and advice people give him, the numberless cards for help groups that?s when he decided to move from Chicago to Settle so that he is not reminded of his wife all the time. When going to the plane he is talking to his close friends then say about moving on and the opening sequence ends with the words:
?I?ll grow a new heart, no it just doesn?t happen twice.?
This is really showing Sam?s distress, and doubt. It also shows how much he really did love his wife and how much he must be mourning.
The opening sequence kicks in now with names popping up, romantic music in the background.
Then me see Annie for the first time with her boyfriend Walter they are going to meet Annie?s family for the first time. Around the dinner table she announces her engagement to Walter, her family breaks into a conversation about the wedding, and we find out that Walter is allergic to a lot of things (flowers, nuts, strawberries, wholemeal, wheat?)
Next scene is Annie and her mother in the loft talking about love and trying on her grandmas wedding dress when the line that I think great pops up:
?destiny is something we?ve invented because everything that happens is accidentally?
This is said by Annie is shows at this time her doubting in fate.
She is in the car listening to the radio when she first hears Jonah phoning the radio station to talk about his Dad t
hat he ?needs a new wife?. He manages to get his Dad on the phone then he eventually talks to her about his problems with moving on. Its reveal that it has been 18 months on since his wife passed away and he has not dated anyone since then and he still does not sleep very much. It?s Christmas Eve and this time is very hard for him because this is when he really enjoyed his wife?s time because she ?makes everything beautiful?. Then one of the best speeches in the plays comes up really moving tells Dr Marsha after her asking about what he?s going to do from now he replies:
?Remind myself to get out of bed every morning, breath in and out all day long, after a while I wont have to remind myself to get out of bed in the mornings and breath in and out then after a while I wont have to think about how I had it great and wonderful for a while.? It?s a true tissue moment for those on an emotional edge.
Goes on to describe what he really liked about his those ?million different little things? that anyone whom has been in love knows about.
Dr Marsha then nicknames him ?Sleepless in Settle? hence the title of the film.
Annie goes into work the next day; she?s a newspaper reporter. She talked a lot about hearing him on the radio.
Its now New Years Eve and Annie and Walter are at a party surrounded by loads of people dancing and they decide it would be good to go to New York and spend Valentines Day there when it comes. New Years Eve for Sam is with just him and Jonah; Jonah falls asleep before the big balls finishes dropping. After he puts Jonah to bed he fantasies that he taking to his dead wife showing that he still really misses her.
Starts getting a lot of mail because Jonah had to give the home address when he went on the radio, all the mail is from interested women.
Next m
ain scene is of Annie and Sam everyday life this really does show the difference.
Annie and Walter run like clockwork almost drone like seems with very little spark, or emotion between them. Sam it shows him being a typical father just talking and spending time with his son it shows that he is a good man and cares a lot about his son. Annie cannot sleep she goes down stairs tunes on the radio and they have a rerun of the sleepless in settle talk she hears again Sam talking about his dead wife.
A great funny talk about Tiramisu and bottoms but to get it you really have to watch.
Two scenes that follow each other show Annie having doubts about marrying Walter and Sam considering dating again. Sam comes home that day and finds Jonah with his friend Jessica they just represent kids their age so well shunning Sam out of the room. Sam cannot help but feel lonely here then he phones up the designer on a job for a date, she ends up arranging everything and they go out for a meal.
Annie starts talking about destiny and fate, a big change from the earlier Annie we saw. Her and her friend are watching a film and you can tell they have seen this film loads when they quote the line from it that goes:
?Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories?
This film becomes a bit of a running joke in the film because it considers being a real girl flick that only the females get and blokes don?t.
Jonah starts having nightmares and calling out for his mother, Sam comes to him. Then Jonah and Sam get into a conservation about Margaret when Jonah confess that he is ?starting to forget her? so Sam reassures him by talking about the ?million different little things? starting with the way she could peel an apple in one big long go, which we see Annie doing earlier. Sam ends up telling Jonah that he loves him and Jon
ah returns the favour.
Annie starts getting a little obsessed and spends the whole day at work tracking down the number of Sam and Jonah using her contacts and the paper database.
Sam on his first date arrives early and her late, but the first thing she really does is laughs, and she has a really weird laugh one of those that could bring down houses. But they have a second date where she comes around the house and cooks dinner for Sam and Jonah. Jonah decides that he really does not like her and he phones up the radio station again to talk about it.
Annie?s friend phones her and tells her to tune in so she does, she gets caught listening by Walter and his Dad catches the kid so both end short. After this Annie cannot sleep she lays awake thinking.
Annie decides her next job is going to be on reporting about phone in radio stations and she needs to go Settle to get a proper interview.
At the airport Sam is putting the girl he has been dating on a plane just as Annie comes off one and that?s when he sees her for the first time, he tried to follow her but loses her in crowd.
Annie tries to track him down and when she finds him she just watches him playing with his son, that night in the hotel she decides to talk to him next time. So she goes back the next day and while approaching sees his sister come up and hug him and thinks it?s a girlfriend so she stops in the middle of the road. She nearly gets run over, Tom approaches her and they both say hello then a long silence and it just shows her back in Baltimore the next day and that?s all they said. When she comes back she finds a letter that the kid replied to her earlier letter she sent and she thinks it?s from ?Sleepless in Settle? so well Sam.
Sam is having dinner with his friends and he talks about seeing Annie around.
Jonah plots seeing Annie on top of
the Empire State Building on Valentines Day by booking flights using Jessica?s mum?s computer.
Annie and Walter are buying cutlery together when she talks to him about her doubts her mood seems to swing back and forth showing her doubts are still continuing. Walter gives Annie her wedding ring she describes it has being perfect for her.
Sam and Jonah have a real heated argument about girls, because Jonah does not like his current girl and likes the sound of Annie, really heated shows all things aren?t simple. Next morning Jonah cannot be found and Jessica gives up that he has gone to New York so Sam goes and tries to catch him back up.
Annie and Walter are having dinner in a restaurant that over looks the Empire State Building, where Jonah now is asking everyone if they are Annie. Annie and Walter talk and she confesses that she does not think she loves him enough, Walter takes it very well saying that he does not want to be the one some one settles for, so Annie makes her way to the Empire State Building.
Sam makes it to the building first and finds Jonah they hug and make up and just as they catch the lift back down. As his lift shuts the up one opens and Annie gets off to find no-one is there, they were so close but yet so far they probably will not ever end up together. But in true Hollywood style Jonah left his bag up there. So they go back up and Sam and Annie meet for the first time, and in a moving moment end up holding hands and getting the lift down together. That is where it finishes.

~ Disclaimer. ~
If you think you are going to like this film on my opinion and you do not then I cannot be held responsible. By opening this page you wage any right to sue me.

**Thank You**
Take Care
© David
James Clark
DavidJamesClark@hotmail.com
(any question e-mail or add me to msn messenger or 44(0)7733107699)

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