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Stephanie Gil

Professor Pilaro

English 102

17 December 2015

What others thought of my favorite movie When Harry met Sally

There are many movies from the 1980’s that I hold dear to my heart. I can watch them

over and over without getting bored of them. Since I could only choose one; I decided to go with

“When Harry Met Sally” written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner in 1989. The

movie stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The movie follows Harry and Sally

from the time they meet in Chicago where they share a cross-country drive to New York. Then

years later by chance the bump into each other. They become great friends.

I just adore this movie! It’s a romantic comedy where there is not a lot of mushy love.

Don’t get more wrong I love mushy love stories but sometimes they can be a bit much. This

movie makes you fall in love with New York all over again. The movie highlighted some great

places in New York. For example there were great scenes that took place in Central Park, Shea

stadium, the Metropolitan museum and Katz deli. I like that fact that the movie focused on the

relationship between Harry and Sally and did not touch upon what they did for a living. Extra

information can make a movie feel cluttered. So I found some articles where different people

gave their opinion on the movie. Lets see if they enjoyed the movie as much as I did.

In a movie review by Roger Ebert he seems to agree with my opinion that is was not a

movie of passion. Roger Ebert states, “This isn’t a romance of passion, although passion is

present, but one that becomes possible only because the two people have grown up together,
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have matured until they can finally see clearly what they really want in a partner” (Ebert). What

Ebert is saying is that through Harry and Sally’s relationship as friends they have grown. They

leaned from each of their failed relationships. By confiding in one another they both realized

what they wanted in a partner. They wanted each other. Harry had qualities that Sally loved and

Sally had qualities that harry loved. They might have not realized it at first. The first inkling they

might have had that they wanted to be more then friends was when they stated dating other

people. You can sense the slight jealously they both had toward each other’s dates. Harry

realizes New Years Eve that Sally is the one for him. So he races to her just before the ball drops

and tells her that he loves everything about her even all her annoying habits.

In The New York Times movie review by Caryn James states, “Mr. Reiner has a simple

faith in fated love, which makes his movie cute and sentimental rather then romantic and

charming” (James). This is why I love this movie. It has romantic elements just not in the

traditional ways. Sally is not chasing for Harry like other romantic movies would have this

characters do. I feel that this movie is very true to how many relationships blossom. They

blossom out of friendship.

James also writes that the movie “When Harry Met Sally” is like a sitcom of a Woody

Allen movies (James). I am not too familiar with Woody Allen films, but if they are funny like

this movie with all the sarcastic humor, sexually tension and some type of love story I will be a

fan. James also writes, “throughout the film, he inserts mock documentary scene in which long-

married couples face the camera and briefly tell their stories of love at first sight, or of lost love

and later found. It is much to blunt a way of pointing to harry and sally’s future”(James). James

feels that having these couples state how they fell in love or found love foreshadows Sally and

Harry ending up being together. Initially I did not see this but after watching the movie over a
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hundred times I can see how the different couples recollecting how they found their true love

could alert the audience to what was going to happen to Sally and Harry. Those mock-

documentaries are one of my favorite features in this movie. It gave me hope that one day I

would find my true love.

I found another article that goes along with what Caryn James from The New York Times

had expressed. Peter Travers from the Rolling Stone writes:

Other things are also obvious. The plot, for example. You can see the ending coming for

miles. You can also see that the film, with its simple opening credits, lush Manhattan

setting, Jew-Gentile love match and jazzy soundtrack of standards from the Thirties and

Forties (with Harry Connick Jr. warbling and tickling the ivories), begs comparisons to

Woody Allen. (Travers)

Travers also feels like this movie has a Woody Allen feel to it. I mean just because it is set in

New York doesn’t mean it has to have a woody Allen feel. But then again I am not familiar with

Allen films. Travers also feels that the plot of the movies is very predicable (Travers). Maybe I

don’t notice these signals to the plot because I am so consumed with what the characters are

doing and the scenery around them. It is almost as if the movie enlarges me and I am unaware of

what is going to happen because I experience the movie moment to moment. I’d rather be

ignorant to the plot and the foreshadowing so I can enjoy the movie. If I figure it out before hand

the movie loses its charm.

The 1980’s had a lot to offer in term of cinema. The movie “When Harry met Sally”

written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner in 1989 is one of those classic romantic

comedies. It is a movie about finding your true love in a friend. After reading different reviews

about this movie I can see that there were no bad reviews. The articles did expressed that the
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movie is very predicable and is very reminiscent of a Woody Allen film. The articles also

expressed the fact that the movie is somewhat romantic in a funny cute sentimental way. These

articles fall very close to my opinion of the film. Even if they did not a movie review would

never sway my opinion of a film until I see the film for myself.

Works Cited

Ebert,Roger. “When Harry Met Sally.” Rogerebert.com. Rogerebert.com, 12 July 1989.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/when-harry-met-sally---1989. 8

December 2015

James, Caryn. “When harry met Sally (1989) Reviews/film; It’s Harry [Love] Sally in a

Romance of New Yorkers and Neuroses.” The New York Times. The New York Times,

12 July 1989. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=

true&db=a9h&AN=9307120311&site=ehost-live.. 8 December 2015.

Travers, Peter. “When Harry Met Sally.” Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 21 July 1989.

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=57907032

&site=ehost-live>. 8 December 2015.