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You've Got Mail
Warner Bros.


7.0

based on 19 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG for some language

Starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Jean Stapleton, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns, and David Chappelle

A romantic comedy set in the age of e-mail.

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Nora Ephron Delia Ephron Miklós László (play Parfumerie)
DIRECTED BY:	Nora Ephron
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 4, 1999 Video: May 4, 1999 Theatrical: December 18, 1998
RUNNING TIME:	119 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

Variety Lael Lowenstein

The most successful version yet of this familiar premise.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Warm, smart, and funny!

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

The film's mix of romance and reading matter is seductive in its own right, providing comfy book-lined settings and people who are what they read and write.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

A valentine to the happenstance miracle of lovers and other strangers, a movie that regards modern romance as something that is, ultimately, old-fashioned to its core.

Entertainment Weekly Ty Burr

A perfectly enjoyable star vehicle that does exactly what it sets out to do. [7 May 1999, p.66]

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A feel-good movie that offers enough comedy and romance to warm the heart without risking a sentimental overdose.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Boasts a collection of oddball characters, some more sharply written than others.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The appeal of You've Got Mail is as old as love and as new as the Web.

Newsweek David Ansen

Ultimately achieves that lump in the throat that is the romantic comedy's promised land.

Slate David Edelstein

The movie, without seeming to realize it, turns into a romantic parable about the joys of being absorbed by a conglomerate.

Time Ginia Bellafante

Ephron refreshingly stands out as the nation's foremost advocate of mind-meld. [21 Dec 1998, p. 74]

San Francisco Examiner Jane Ganahl

Too many questions are raised with no good answers.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

This is filmmaking as a minor feat of engineering, the kind where even the gossamer emotions seem like prefab components -- charm, whimsy, serendipity, all so many discs plugged into the hard drive.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Hanks and Ryan are as appealing as ever, and Ephron's fashion-conscious camera gives the action a slickly attractive sheen.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

The coincidences that make the destined lovers' paths cross aren't contrived with much finesse, but the characters get in some decidedly clever lines.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

In a film about the ruthless corporate destruction of small businesses, it's hard not to flinch at the prominent placement accorded IBM, Starbucks and AOL logos.

Salon.com Laura Miller

It's as if the whole movie's on Prozac, only in this case the antidepressants are cuteness and romance.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Made me feel like a Christmas goose being fattened for slaughter. Its force-fed diet of whimsy cloyed long before the eagerly anticipated romantic payoff arrived to put me out of my misery.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Takes almost two self-infatuated, smarmy, condescending, cringe-inducingly sentimental hours to reach its pre-ordained conclusion.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rita P. gave it a1:
Truly painful cinematic experience. How can accompolished actors like Hanks and Ryan involve themselves in such tripe? And Alice Z...oh my god, you cannot be serious?

Alice Z gave it a10:
This is still my favorite romantic comedy of all time! So cute and funny. I love it!

matt a. gave it a2:
Ah, what an original and thought-provoking film..Wait.....nope. Admittedly though, this is probably Ms. Ephron's best film, which pretty much means that it is about on par with some of Pauly Shore's best work. Only somewhat redeeming quality is tom hanks (why did he agree to star in this crap again?).

Pat C. gave it a 3:
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to either bestow rigorous attention and force of thought as befits application of solid evaluatory process to a cinematic presentation, or simply taking a nap, this film makes the second choice imperative.

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You've Got Mail Warner Bros.

You've Got Mail
Warner Bros.