Plot: What’s it about?
Meg Ryan and Romantic Comedies should pretty much be synonymous by now. After all, she has made quite a career out of movies like Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, Hanging Up and this little gem–When Harry Met Sally. Arguably, she is good in these roles and this one established her as a movie star. Director Rob Reiner wanted to make this film, but had no story to go on. He called on screenwriter, Nora Ephron who also directed Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. What is most noticeable in the film is the characters are almost identically mirrored to the actual Director and Writer of the film. Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) are essentially playing out Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron. Reiner had just recently come off a divorce and was now out on the “singles” scene again, hence his emphasis for the movie. Rob Reiner is a very talented director (and actor, on occasion) and his range is shown in the movies he directs. From “Stand by Me” to “This is Spinal Tap” to “A Few Good Men” to “Misery”.
The story centers around the lives of two people. Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan), this is very hard to figure out of course! Starting the day they graduate from the University of Chicago, they share a car as both are planning to start their lives in New York. Almost instantly, Harry is a turnoff for Sally. Harry is crude, opinionated and vulgar. He draws conclusions, most importantly on why women and men can truly never be friends—the sex always gets in the way (for the men, that is). They soon arrive in the Big Apple and part ways. The film then leaps forward 5 years. Gone is Sally’s Farrah Fawcett hairdo and it’s now replaced with a Dorothy Hammil look. Sally, ever the perfectionist, is now in a relationship with one of Harry’s friends named Bob. As luck would have it, they run into each other at the airport as Harry tries to nonchalantly ignore Sally. However, they chat on the plane and Sally finds that even though Harry is about to be married, he is still lewd and crude. Again we flash forward another five years (again with the flash, enough of this flashing already). Sally has just broken up with Bob and is with close friend, Marie (Carrie Fisher). Meeting by chance in a bookstore, Sally and Harry strike up a conversation. Sally learns that Harry is getting divorced and is going thorough a rough time, and she tells him of her recent troubles as well. It’s at this time that Sally realizes that she isn’t completely annoyed by Harry anymore. The two start to become friends…
Now this is just half the story. What everyone seems to know, except for the main characters, is that Harry and Sally are meant for each other. As they spend more and more time with each other, the closer they get. Harry keeps claiming to not have emotional feelings for her, but it’s clear that he does. Likewise with Sally. Both are dating other people, though through their mutual friends, Marie and Jess (Bruno Kirby) they carefully dissect each others dates and decide that they’re not right for each other. On top of all this, Harry and Sally’s friends (Marie and Jess) happen to meet and instantly fall in love and get married, thus driving the steak that much deeper into Harry and Sally’s hearts. Interdispursed throughout the movie are outtakes, Woody Allen style, of older couples who tell how they met and how long they have been together, cute, but I think they overdo it a bit. I don’t want to give away the ending, but if you’ve seen Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail (and just about every other romantic comedy) you’ll put two and two together. Not to be left out is Meg Ryan’s famous “Orgasm” scene, climaxing with what Rob Reiner calls the funniest line in any of his movies “I’ll have what she’s having”, delivered by none other than his own mother! While the romantic comedy movie market is constantly expanding, this is one of the greatest of the genre. It turned Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan into superstars and the bottom line is…it’s a great movie to boot.
Video: How does it look?
MGM is very weird (and by weird, I mean inconsistent) when it comes to the quality of their transfers. While on an upward trend lately, their entire catalog could use a good once over. When Harry Met Sally is one of those exceptions, like the Bond movies, that is a diamond in the rough. The 1.85:1 image is anamorphically enhanced and I have to say that is looks fabulous! The image is clear and sharp that has the look like this movie is brand new. The black levels are right on target and I only noticed a few specs that detracted from my attention. This blows any previous version of this movie away when it comes to image quality. I could go on, but let’s just say that this is one of the better transfers that I’ve seen and what an unexpected surprise this was.
Audio: How does it sound?
The movie is over ten years old now and the soundtrack is presented in it’s original Dolby 2.0 surround mix. While I’m sure that MGM could have remastered this in a new 5.1 presentation, I’m kind of glad they didn’t. This movie is essentially dialogue-driven, and even in parts, sounds very good. One scene that comes to mind is when Harry and Sally are talking to Jess and Marie (It’s a split screen scene, one that took almost 60 takes to do according to Rob Reiner), Harry is on the left side of the screen and Sally the right and the front speakers feature only their voices. It’s hard to explain, but proves the point of channel separation to a tee. Harry Connick Jr.’s “It Had to be You” plays in parts as well in the included music video and sound throughout is clean, though some of the dialogue does get drowned out by the soundtrack. Overall, it’s a good mix that satisfied me.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Labeled as a “Special Edition”, When Harry Met Sally certainly doesn’t disappoint in this department. First up is the disappointing full-length commentary by Rob Reiner. I thought my disc didn’t have it on there, as I was hard pressed to actually find a part where he was talking. However, he does speak, but he lets the movie do the talking (that’s all I can think). I can only hope that for his future commentaries that he is more like he is on the “Stand By Me” track as opposed to this one. Also included is a 30+ minute documentary, a new documentary that is, featuring new interviews with Carrie Fisher, Billy Crystal and Nora Ephron. Bruno Kirby and Meg Ryan are featured as well, but their footage is from 1988, so it’s a bit disappointing not to see new interviews with them. The documentary is very detailed and provides much more information that the commentary track. I was ultimately pleased with this, and hope to see more like it. Next up are some deleted scenes, ones I felt which should be edited back into the movie. The seven scenes are either longer versions of scenes that are already in the movie or some that just didn’t make the cut. Nothing really stands out here, but it would be nice for some footage to be edited back into the movie. But I guess the original was so successful, they figure if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. A music video with Harry Connick Jr. “It Had to be You” is also included, another nice touch as well as a theatrical trailer. On the whole, fans of this movie will want to add this to their DVD collection, and if you’ve never seen this movie, this is the way to see it for the first time. Highly recommended.
