Dir. Rob Reiner, US, 1989, 96 mins
Cast: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher
Review by Carol Allen
The central question of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY is, “Can a man and woman be friends, without sex coming into the relationship?” According to Harry (Billy Crystal), it is impossible. He first meets Sally (Meg Ryan), when they have both just graduated and she gives him a ride to New York. He makes his statutory pass at her, and she can’t stand him. Eleven years later and both bruised by failed relationships, they become best friends, advising and supporting each other through a series of disasters with other partners, and never seeing that the best relationship they have both ever had is with each other. Until, that is, sex does come into the equation, and their loving friendship is threatened by love.
All of which perhaps sounds a bit serious. And though the film is dealing with the very real problems of relationships and the tangles they get into and is often very touching, it also has the benefit of a tough, funny and perceptive screenplay by Nora Ephron, used to full advantage by director Rob Reiner and his actors. The scene where Sally goes through the routine of faking an orgasm while eating in a crowded restaurant, just to show the highly embarrassed Harry that maybe some of his girlfriends could have been deceiving him about what a great lover his is, is now the stuff of legend. It’s also very, very funny. Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal have their joint fingers right on the pulse of the problems faced by the New Woman dealing with Old Man in New Man’s clothing – the sort who can’t wait to get out of the door after making love in case he has to face up to a real relationship. They are well supported by Carrie Fisher as her friend, always courting disappointment with her married boyfriends, until she meet’s Harry’s best friend (Bruno Kirby). It all adds up to the best sort of romantic comedy, which still touches a nerve in contemporary life as well as the heart and the funny bone.
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