When Harry Met Sally...

Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson

The summer's uncorseted, unqualified delight. [14 July 1989, Calendar, p.6-1]

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A ravishing, romantic lark brimming over with style, intelligence and flashing wit.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

It's a movie that walks on air.

Time Richard Corliss

Like Harry and Sally, the movie is hardworking, spot on; it winepresses its conversation into epigrams. No surprise here.[31 July 1999, p.65]

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Together, Crystal and Ryan really click. Even though their characters are polar opposites (or perhaps because of it), their interaction has a charm and warmth that most motion picture pairings lack.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

[Reiner] pulls everything together adroitly to make Harry Met Sally a real refreshment. It's what they call a summer picture, which means that, if it's good as this one is-it will seem summery even in winter. [21 Aug 1989, p.26]

Empire Staff (Not Credited)

The joy comes not from the will-they-won't-they romance between the two leads, but from the sharply written humour from the pen of writer Nora Ephron.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

The kind of little film you can get cozy with, laugh at in odd places even when nobody else is laughing - and yet people will not turn around to glower at you because they understand. [12 July 1989, Daily Datebook, p.E1]

USA Today Mike Clark

As a successful careerist who tries purging his neuroses in a coin-operated batting cage, Crystal is funny enough to keep Ryan from all-out stealing the film. She, though, is smashing in an eye-opening performance, another tribute to Reiner's flair with actors. [12 July 1989, Life, p.1D]

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What makes it special, apart from the Ephron screenplay, is the chemistry between Crystal and Ryan.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The comedy is warm and witty and wafer-thin, as easy on the palate as a raspberry sorbet on a summer afternoon.

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

From his long experience in television, [Reiner] has learned how to create characters with just enough depth to hold together but not so much that they become too individualized, too stubbornly complex. [12 July 1989, Tempo, p.1]

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

What he forgot to ask Woody [Allen] for was the keen insight into middle-class folkways that marks the best Allen pictures. [28 July 1989, Arts, p.10]

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

Rob Reiner directs with deftness and sincerity, making the material seem more engaging than it is, at least until the plot machanics begin to unwind and the film starts to seem shapeless.

TV Guide Staff (Non Credited)

The plot may seem anything but fresh (and the borrowings from Woody Allen certainly are stale), but director Rob Reiner has a killer instinct for setting up jokes and punchlines.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Very slickly and glibly put together, with a sharp eye for yuppie decor and accoutrements; even Woody's habitual, fanciful vision of an all-white New York is respected.

The New York Times Caryn James

Like the sitcom version of a Woody Allen film, full of amusing lines and scenes, all infused with an uncomfortable sense of deja vu.