Sleepless in Seattle

It's Christmas and Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) has just announced her engagement to her long time boyfriend Walter (Bill Pullman). She and Walter drive in their separate cars to his parents' house. On the way there she listens to a radio show in which a widower (Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin) talks about how much he misses his dead wife and how he doesn't think he'll ever find anyone else he cares about that much.

Annie is instantly obsessed. She hires a private detective agency to find out all of the details about this guy. She actually travels to Seattle, where he lives, from Baltimore, where she lives, just to chicken out at the last minute as far as introducing herself, and instead stand in the street and stare at him - Sam stares back -before turning tail and running. Turn the sexes around on these two and this would become a creepy stalker movie.

During the movie, it seems that Walter's only flaw is having severe allergies and the main flaws in the woman Hanks' character is dating is that she flicks her hair and that she has an annoying laugh. But that's the thing - if you are involved with and deep down feel saddled with somebody you don't really love, the small flaws become huge.

And fundamentally it's a movie about not settling for a passionless relationship. Say what you will about knowing that relationships require time and effort, it doesn't change the fact that there is nothing morally redeeming about marrying a guy because he's adequately nice and you can get along with him more or less. Who wants to be the person another person settles for? No one. Pullman's Walter even says as much when he gives up without a fight at the end. He'll make a good partner for someone who actually loves him and sees past the allergies.

Nora Ephron, the writer, admitted that the movie is ridiculous and unlikely and has this dumb "fate" aspect, but in real life when you finally do find the person that you love and marry, everything about finding that person feels incredibly unlikely. It can feel like fate even if it isn't, and I guess that's true.

Rosie O'Donnell is great as Annie's friend who doesn't see Walter's charms either, but then she's not the character engaged to him while dreaming of another guy. David Hyde Pierce, months before he gets the role of Miles on Frasier, has a small role as a man who is in a passionless marriage himself and sees nothing amiss about it.

I won't lie to you-this movie is a CHICK FLICK! Though I never saw it with a guy, it is definitely a chick flick. That said, it's a high-end chick flick, which probably a few guys might enjoy, unless they happen to be the exploding helicopter type^^; This movie feels more like a modern day adaptation of the classic romance "An Affair To Remember," and it keeps referencing it too (In fact, the Cary Grant classic is very integral to the plot). Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have great chemistry together, and they both do what they're good at-Tom Hanks portraying the Everyman, and Meg Ryan being cute and innocent. I have to disagree with an earlier comment that this film is unfair to guys-the way the characters are portrayed, I'd have to say that in the reverse situation, I'd still feel the same way. Meg Ryan does not have the "evil woman" syndrome that popped up in later 90's chick flicks (The most notorious of which was "My Best Friend's Wedding"). She is very believable and actually does care about the feelings of her fiance. What I particularly liked is that the fiance was not portrayed as someone who Meg would do well to leave. Most movies fall into this trap-Someone is about to marry someone who is horrible and find that someone else is better, the viewer supposedly not feeling bad because the fiance was a jerk anyway. Tom Hanks really shines here as someone who has lost the most important person in his life and is trying to rebuild again. He always has a knack for easily slipping into the roles he's given and making them really convincing. He does not fail here-you feel for him especially during the sequences where he starts remembering his late wife. The movie's plot starts to stretch plausibility at the end, but not to the point where it destroys the entire film. The ending scene in particular is handled very carefully. You could have had a big, romantic, tear-jerking moment. Instead, the movie takes a more simplistic approach, and it succeeds-it feels much more natural than the alternative. Overall, if you're in for a feel good romance, you should see this. If you happen to be female, this is DEFINITELY worth watching.

The cast is excellent, which elevates the whole film, in particular Hanks and Ryan are massively charming. The plot is solid but like most romantic comedies, there is not a lot happening in the lives of other characters except in ways that directly relate to the leads and there is a revolving door of cast stepping in to provide counsel. The chemistry between Hanks and his son is a standout success of the film and their relationship is at its core providing touching moments, humour and driving the plot forward.

After his wife's funeral, Sam (Tom Hanks), an architect, moves from Chicago to Seattle with his son, Johna (Ross Malinger) so he can stay away from all those things that remind him of his beloved wife, which he just can't bear any longer.

In Baltimore, Annie (Meg Ryan), a newspaper journalist, is engaged to Walter (Bill Pullman) and is looking forward to getting married. But when Annie's mother talks about the 'magic' that she instantly feels when Annie's father holds her hand, Annie cannot comprehend the meaning. One evening, Annie hears Johna on a national radio show, saying his dad is lonely and sad, still cannot forget his late wife and Johna thinks his dad needs a new wife to make him happy. Thousands of women across the country write to Sam, among them is Annie. Her letter in the rubbish bin is sent out by her good friend Becky (Rosie O'Donnell).

So Annie travels all the way to Seattle in hope to meet Sam, but it doesn't work out fine. However, when Johna reads the letter from Annie, he knows she's the right one and he replies on his father's behalf for meeting each other on the roof of the Empire State Building...

This is a refreshing, quite light-hearted story. It's slow but I'm sure many people would like it. It's funny that, when Sam first sees Annie, he somehow feels that he has met her before...rather funny, isn't it? Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are great on the screen together and the flick is perfect for relaxing. With a delightful soundtrack.

The movies are full of alternate universes and maybes that make them a great escape. Sleepless In Seattle is a great romantic comedy. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star in a movie where they are hardly onscreen together and yet we feel both of their characters infatuation. It's an amazing job that director Nora Ephron does in making us care about the relationship between these two characters when their not hardly together onscreen. The movie also has great performances, from the leads and from supporting players Rosie O'Donnell and Rob Reiner, as well as a very goofy but sweet turn from Bill Pullman. This movie will make you feel good.