There is an
age-old question regarding whether single men and women can be just friends. In
real life the answer is obviously “yes,” but in movies and TV the answer always
has to be that at some point two single characters will get attracted to each
other and move beyond friendship. On TV I find this to be contrived and
overused, but some movies can have a lot of fun with the concept, most notably
Rob Reiner’s comedy classic When Harry
Met Sally…(1989). It may not change your view on love and friendship, but
it forever changed the meaning of the phrase “I’ll have what she’s having.”
On paper this
film’s premise sounds like another rom-com, but seen by oneself during an
evening of Netflix binging it does make you think about deep stuff like the
long-term impact of your decisions on your life. A person you meet during a
tense trip might turn up again sometime later down the road in the most
unexpected ways. If there is one thing I believe in it is infinite possibilities,
and Nora Ephron’s script posits the possibility that Harry Burns (Billy
Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) could randomly bump into each other over
the years always denying they should be more than friends.
When Harry, just
like the title says, meets Sally it doesn’t look as though these two have much
of a future. It is 1977 and they are both university graduates who have decided
to share a ride to New York City where like many people they are hoping to
start their careers. Naturally to pass the time they start having
conversations, mainly about relationships since Harry is dating a friend of
Sally’s. The conversations take a sour turn when Harry posits it is impossible
for men and women to be friends because sex always gets in the way. This leads
to an argument that has them part ways with no desire to see each other again once
they get to the Big Apple.
That would be the
end of that, except five years later they bump into each other again at an
airport. A very plausible coincidence, but it seems fate is pushing them
together since Sally is also dating Harry’s neighbour. Another five years later,
and this time it is an encounter at a coffee shop where they end up tallying
their previous relationships, which all ended badly. This leads Harry to
formally propose they become the exception to his rule and become best friends.
Obviously, this is where things get juicy.
If Harry and
Sally were of the same sex, no one would bat an eye at their relationship.
However their respective best friends (Bruno Kirby and the late great Carrie
Fisher) notice that these two are practically dating without the sex. You could
argue they are being intimate since they have intimate phone conversations at
night, have dinner together, and tell each other everything.
Harry even gets
to hear Sally orgasm, or at least pretend to, when he posits yet another
theory: that women can’t fake it in bed. To rebuke him, Sally is not shy about convincingly
pretending to climax in a diner full of customers, leading the lady next to her
to ask the waiter to serve whatever Sally is having. The best part: said lady
is Estelle Reiner, the director’s own mom.
The ending of When Harry Met Sally…is of course fairly
predictable and has inspired quite a few other romantic comedies since then,
but it is scenes like the one described above that makes it stand above the
crowded field. Then there are the two leads who are both well-rounded
characters portrayed by Crystal and Ryan at the top of their game. For a
certain generation Crystal is a one-eyed monster from a Pixar movie, but for
others he is a terrific romantic lead delivering some great lines written by Nora
Ephron, whose career featured many other successful screenplays.
This may be a
romantic comedy with a predicable plot, but it is also one of those rare films
you are still thinking about days after seeing it, and possibly quoting it
years later.
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