The sex part ALWAYS gets in the way..... (When Harry Met Sally (DVD))

Member Name: Joanna Hudson

Product:	When Harry Met Sally (DVD)
Date:	07/07/01 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great acting, Some classic comedy moments, dramatic climax

Disadvantages: None

When I first saw this film, I must have been about 13 years old. It was the first time I had watched a so-called 'romantic comedy' and to tell you the truth I was a bit sceptical (being 13 and a tomboy at that the only thing I was interested in watching were horror films and football)

Within 10 minutes of watching the film though I was totally in love with the characters.

Since then I must have watched this film over 20 times. It is the film I turn to whenever I'm feeling low and it is a sure-fire way to making me feel good. The thing that makes this film so funny are the characters.

Sally has just left collage, she is bored of her life and goes to New York to become a journalist and hopefully have a more exciting life. She is a total optimist and has a happy-go-lucky personality.

Harry is a pessimist who is also moving to New York to start his career. They drive together to New York as Harry’s girlfriend was Sally’s best friend, although they had never actually met before.

So, they start the trip to New York and soon realise how opposite each other’s personalities are. They have many arguments, and when they reach New York they go their separate ways because Harry believes they can’t be friends because ‘Men and women can’t be friends, the sex part always gets in the way’

They do not meet again until they both take the same flight. They start talking and realise how each other have changed in the intervening years. Harry was engaged and Sally was starting a relationship with one of Harry’s old associates, Joe. During the flight though they still can not see eye to eye, so neither wants to stay in touch with the other.

So, they leave each other without swapping addresses or phone numbers and do not meet again until they bump into each other in a New York bookshop. Sally had just broken up from Joe and Harry was in the middle of getting a di
vorce from his wife. So, with this in common they become friends, they comfort each other when they’re lonely, have fun, go out for meals etc in a bid to forget their broken hearts.


When, a few months later, Sally finds out Joe is getting married, Harry comes to her apartment to comfort her, one thing leads to another, and they end up in bed. The morning after proves very uncomfortable for them both, and they both admit to each other that it was a mistake. They then find it very difficult to be comfortable in each other’s company and they do not meet again until their best friends, Jesse and Marie (played by Bruno Kirby and Carie Fisher) get married. Jesse and Marie had met when Harry and Sally had tried to set each other up with their best friends, on a double date.

And this is as much as I can tell you without giving the plot away (although I’m sure if you’re one of the few that hasn’t seen this film you can guess what happens from now on!)

Since I first saw When Harry Met Sally I must have watched it over 20 times. This is the film I turn to whenever I'm feeling low and it is a sure-fire way to making me feel good.

Unlike other romantic comedy's I have seen the characters are real, believable, they were not all fluffy and unbelievably nice, they were normal people with normal problems that they have to overcome.

I think the thing that makes 'When Harry Met Sally' such a classic is the fact that the Comedy comes before the Romance. It has some very memorable moments (who can forget Meg Ryan as Sally faking orgasm in the restaurant scene?) and it remains un-slushy until the very last scene.

The script is excellent, and the acting is simply superb, not just by the two main stars, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, but also by the other two main characters in the film, they are Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby.

What also adds to the appeal of the film is the
soundtrack by Harry Conick Junior and his jazz band which is simply class, and accompanies the film perfectly.

The story may be predictable and has been done a million times before (boy meets girl, boy hates girl, girl hates boy, boy and girl fall in love), but this is just a class above any other modern romantic comedy I have seen. A true feel-good classic!

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