When Harry Met Sally...

Were it not for the now legendary scene in the diner - and, for me, the lovely follow-up from the observing woman at the next table to the waitress, this would just be another quickly-paced, run-of-the-mill, romantic comedy that's exceedingly heavy on the dialogue. It's all about the evolution of the relationship between "Harry" (Billy Crystal) and "Sally" (Meg Ryan). They've been friends since God was a boy, but always preferred to date other people. Now clearly, as we progress through this feast of relationship mishaps, that isn't really working and they come back to their perennial question. Would them having sex ruin a beautiful friendship? The story is set across quite an extended timeframe, and that allows Rob Reiner to reset the episodic nature of the comedy and introduce new partners for us to appreciate, like and loathe as the punchline to the story becomes as obvious as the sun in the sky. The writing is witty and pithy at times, yes, but there's just way too much of it and even though there's a semblance of chemistry between Ryan and Crystal on screen, I just found the whole thing just a bit too obvious. It's not a bad watch, and I know I'm very much in the minority of opinion here, but this is really only a standard vehicle for two averagely talented stars, one of whom can "yes, yes, yes..." with the best of them.

"When Harry Met Sally..." stubbornly insists upon trawling through some of the most sleep inducing and mind numbing banalities of an existence imaginable and the inconsequential nonsense it finds there has been lovingly woven into an equally nonsensical film which relates one couple's endlessly tedious journey to true happiness. The film incorporates a lot of opinions along the way which are being rapidly outmoded by fast moving modern trends in a world where quaint words such as chivalry and romance have been replaced by casual sex and instant gratification. The desperate attempts at humour successfully fail to raise even a smile and even though you know Harry and Sally are meant to be together you really don't care and when they do eventually sleep together the only reason you take an interest then is because it must mean the film is ending soon and you will be released back into the big bad city and be able to return home again sure in the knowledge it is 96 minutes of your life completely wasted.

Well worth a watch, as anticipated. <em>'When Harry Met Sally…'</em> is one of those films that I've heard a tonne about but without finding out anything tangible about the plot, the only thing in that regard that I knew was the Katz's Delicatessen location - not even the full scene, just the famous quote (out of context) from Estelle Reiner. Of course as a romcom drama you know mostly what you're gonna get, but this does have more to it in fairness; big fan of the time jumps, e.g. Billy Crystal is great value throughout, amusing and even touching at moments. Same goes for Meg Ryan, naturally, who I know of only by name; I never remember her face for some odd reason. Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby, meanwhile, make for strong supports to the two leads.