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When Harry Met Sally...
Columbia Pictures


7.7

based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R

Starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steven Ford, and Lisa Jane Persky

Will sex ruin a perfect relationship between a man and a woman? That's what Harry (Crystal) and Sally (Ryan) debate during their travels from Chicago to New York. 11 years and 2,000 miles later, they're still no closer to finding the answer. And they've never ventured past their friendship to discover the love that's right in front of them. Will these two best friends ever accept that they're meant for each other... or will they continue to deny the attraction that's existed since the first moment When Harry Met Sally? (MGM)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Nora Ephron
DIRECTED BY:	Rob Reiner
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 9, 2001 Video: January 9, 2001 Theatrical: July 12, 1989
RUNNING TIME:	96 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nora Ephron's screenplay was nominated for a 1990 Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson

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

100

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dave B. gave it a10:
To any of my friends who've heard me rave about this movie since it came out....it's my all time favourite. Not only am I a helpless romantic, but I love the humour especially. Crystal was hilarious and Ryan was beyond cute and attractive. It's the only movie in my life I went and saw at the theatre 10x, taking a new friend each time as I wanted them to enjoy it (plus, there just wasn't much else on at the theatre I wanted to go to instead). Anyways, here it is 15 years later and I own it on DVD (go figure). Enjoy it. Laugh. Bask in it....and I think it has the best closing lines (Crystal to Ryan on New Year's) in the history of movies.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Come on, who hasn't watched this film at least 10 times and smiled about 50 times throughout. A classic.

Pat C. gave it a 5:
Ryan must have faked Everything during the audition to land this role. It is obvious that if Harry had met Sally in real life, they would have both immediately run the other way. The show seems cute enough, but it has neither the nobility of platonic love nor the juicyness of spontaneous attraction. It's just Billy Crystal doing what he does best, playing an avoidant dysfunctional who is both entertaining and funny but in the end simply cannot be taken seriously, no matter how much brute force is leveraged into the plot. Woody Allen should have played the role, being twisted enough to represent the character. On the plus side, Ryan really is talented, and as simple sitcom the show is genuinely funny.

Dan C. gave it an 8:
Good, but a little overrated. Crystal and Ryan are very funny. One of the better romantic comedies.

Mr. B. gave it a 7:
Humorous, magical, but a little dated. Billy Crystal is certainly good, but Meg Ryan suffers because she is simply not that great of an actress. She is fair here, but in other films she is abismal. Watch this movie and see when she was actually worth something.

Yoon Min C. gave it a 5:
Billy Crystal as the love interest of Meg Ryan? In terms of sexual attractiveness, this pairing is the most lopsided since the days of Ron Jeremy. It never rises above TV sitcom material, and you almost expect(even hope for) commericials every 10 minutes. Annoying, predictable, vapid.

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When Harry Met Sally... Columbia Pictures

When Harry Met Sally...
Columbia Pictures