Plot: What’s it about?
The story of Sam (Tom Hanks) and Annie who “meet” via a radio call in talk show. Sam’s son, Jonah, called the show as a Christmas wish to try and get the Dr. on the air to help Sam through his depression. It’s been about a year and a half since Sam’s wife died and Sam’s not handling it all too well.
The radio show is broadcast nationally and Sam’s story (entitled “Sleepless in Seattle”) is an instant hit with the listeners, who want his phone number and address. Unknowingly to Sam, Annie (in Baltimore) hears his story and has an instant rapport with him; but she dismisses is because she’s already engaged to allergy-prone Walter (Bill Pullman).
The movie makes you literally wait until the last scene to see what comes of the whole ordeal, but it’s fun just getting there. This movie shows you that you don’t need a lot of special effects, sound blazing out all channels or any other “feature” that most movies seem to have these days. A strong cast, a good director and a great storyline makes a suprisingly good movie.
Lastly, and I’m sure I may get blasted on this, but I belive that this movie totally makes fun of women, it shows scenes two different times of women (girls) blubbering at the Cary Grant flick “An Affair to Remember” saying that ‘men just don’t get this movie’. Just my opinion, of course, but being directed by a woman I found it kind of odd.
Bottom line, Hanks and Ryan are teamed up at their best here (much better than “Joe Versus the Volcano” and “You’ve Got Mail”) and deliver a top notch Romantic Comedy. The extras make this one to own if you’re a fan of this movie at all. Enjoy!
Video: How does it look?
I compared this side by side to the original movie-only version of this movie and the picture quality is unbelievable. The disc is presented in a dual-layer format (you can select Widescreen or Pan-and-Scan), but the 16:9 version looks picture perfect. I couldn’t find any artifacting at all and there are lots of city shots (that usually give off that shimmering look) that look crystal-clear. Top notch here!
Audio: How does it sound?
The 2.0 Dolby Digital surround track serves it’s purpose. Dialogue is clean through the center channel and there are very few surround effects. Most action is through the front three channels, but like I said, it serves it’s purpose. It could have been “remastered” in 5.1 (and oddly enough, the box says ‘newly remeastered picture and sound’) but there was no need. I’m a big fan of 5.1, but once again it serves it’s purpose.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Here’s where the disc shines even more. Along with an audio commentary by Nora Ephron and her sister Delia, there is a music video featuring a then “unknown” Celene Dion and a ten minute featurette of “Love in the movies” with interviews of the “Loveline” duo from MTV. Talent files and a redesigned menus round out the features. But you have all you ever wanted to know about the movie (and a lot of people will, in my opinion). For $25 it’s a great deal…
