Review of When Harry Met Sally... (1989) by Cameron H — 22 Sep 2016

How can the archetypical modern romantic comedy also stand as one of the best modern romantic comedies? Let us examine the success of the tropes, in the case of When Harry Met Sally: our two lead characters, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, live detailed, individual lives, the comic relief sidekicks, Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby, milk Nora Ephron's deliciously charming script for all of its cartoonish effect, director Rob Reiner saddles such antics back into a movie deeply rooted in reality, and, good grief, this is both romantic AND comedic.

In the reinforcement of the film's theme as to how good of friends a man and woman can be without sex, Crystal and Ryan play off one another like the best of friends would in everyday life. That feels like love to me.

Even the "misunderstanding," the bane of most romantic comedies in that they stab pacing straight in the back, moves the plot in a manner that indicates not another case of miscommunication, but a fundamental misunderstanding of oneself.

Absolutely magical. The accusations that Rob Reiner merely ripped off Woody Allen are envious and inaccurate excuses for how Reiner actually managed to define the modern romantic comedy: We have grown sick of the saccharine garbage, but that does not mean we have to be cynical about love.