| | | Can Two Friends Sleep Together and Still Love Each Other in the Morning?
From acclaimed director Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride) comes this "explosively funny" (Newsweek) romantic comedy classic starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. One of the most beloved romances of all time, When Harry Met Sally... is "shimmering [with] intelligence and humor" (Boxoffice) as it exposes "the kind of truth about relationships that hasn't shown up in movies before" (New York)...or since!Sex always gets in the way of friendships between men and women. At least, that's what Harry Burns (Crystal) believes. So when Harry meets Sally Albright (Ryan) and a deep friendship blossoms between them, Harry's determined not to let his attraction to Sally destroy it. But when a night of weakness ends in a morning of panic, can the pair avoid succumbing to Harry's fears by remaining friends and admitting they just might be the perfect match for each other?
"Romantic and funny! It's wonderful!" Joel Siegel, ABC-TV
"...a sweet, embraceable comedy...a movie that walks on air..." Rita Kempley, The Washington Post
"Brimming over with style, intelligence and flashing wit." Rolling Stone
"Tender, amazing and magnificent! An acutely perceptive and comically radiant love story!" The Hollywood Reporter
"A comic valentine to love and friendship." Time Magazine
Editor's Note
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... tracks a star-crossed pair as they repeatedly drift apart and meet again over a span of 13 years and gradually fall madly, deeply, passionately into friendship, a friendship ever teetering on the edge of love. Harry meets Sally when they share a car ride to New York City upon graduation from the University of Chicago. A few minutes into the trip, the conversation between womanizing, neurotic Harry (Billy Crystal) and driven, equally neurotic Sally (Meg Ryan) becomes heatedly contentious. The question arises: Can a man and a woman be just friends? Harry contends this proposition is impossible, that sex will always come along to screw up the friendship. Sally is aghast and disagrees, proclaiming the idea a distinct possibility. The two part ways rather acrimoniously in New York but before long meet again and eventually decide to indeed be friends. As life's mysterious coincidences pull Harry and Sally closer together, they share mystical, tender moments, confess secrets to each other, console each other, attend major holidays together, and do all the other things couples traditionally do. The question then reemerges: Can Harry and Sally remain mere friends, or will they--must they--fall in love? And can anyone forget Ryan's classic faking-it scene in Katz's Deli?
Plot Summary
Director Rob Reiner's WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... is a comedy about the romantic travails of two neurotic New Yorkers who keep running into each other over a period of 13 years and form a friendship that constantly verges on romance. As the two stubbornly resist courting each other, they gradually realize there may be no two people more qualified to be in love in this delightful, anecdotal film.
| Features | "Making-Of" Documentary With Rob Reiner, Nora Ephron, Billy Crystal, Carrie Fisher & Cast & Crew | | Audio Commentary With Director Rob Reiner | | Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo | | Interactive Menus | | Music Video By Harry Connick, Jr. | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Over 7 Minutes Of Never-Before-Seen Footage | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Mgm Entertainment |
| Release Date: 4/7/2009 |
| Running Time: 96 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1989 | | Catalog ID: 113720 | | UPC: 00883904137207 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed, Spanish Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Golden Globe (1990) | | | Billy Crystal, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical | | | Meg Ryan, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical | | | Nora Ephron, Nominee, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture | |
Oscar (1990) | | | Nora Ephron, Nominee, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen | |
British Academy Awards (1990) |  | Nora Ephron, Winner, Best Screenplay - Original | | | Rob Reiner, Nominee, Best Film | |
Golden Globe (1990) | | | Rob Reiner, Nominee, Best Director - Motion Picture | | | When Harry Met Sally, Nominee, Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical |
| Memorable Quotes| "I'll have what she's having."----Deli patron (Estelle Reiner----Rob's mother) after Sally has dramatically faked an orgasm in Katz's Deli |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...[Crystal and Ryan] are appealing and sometimes even unpredictable....Perfectly pleasant..." 07/12/1989 p.C15Entertainment Weekly
"...This sweet, romantic fairy tale speaks for itself." -- Rating: B 01/12/2001 p.61 Los Angeles Times
"...Affection, as well as simmering wit, is definitely in the air....The results are charming..." 07/14/1989 p.C1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...Warm-hearted..." 08/21/1992 p.35 Total Film
"...A benchmark for laugh-packed rom-coms, filled with witty dialogue and classy comedy performances..." 04/01/2001 p.112 Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he two leads spout definite truisms from male and female perspectives, with amusing and endearing results." 04/01/2008 p.93 ReelViews 9 of 10
When Harry Met Sally, probably Rob Reiner's most popular film to date (the other likely candidate for that title would be A Few Good Men), made the studios aware that, even during the cynical '90s, the romantic comedy could be a profitable genre. Released during the summer of 1989 as a form of "counter-programming" for those tired of the season's action blockbusters (Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), When Harry Met Sally surprised everyone (Columbia Pictures included) by amassing a gross approaching $100 million. Before this movie, dozens of years had passed since the adult romantic comedy was in vogue (primarily because of poor scripts and a lack of chemistry between leads), but When Harry Met Sally changed the trend. Due in large part to the success of Harry and the following year's Pretty Woman, the '90s have had more high-profile romantic comedies than any decade since the '50s...The thing that When Harry Met Sally does best is to keep the focus firmly on the relationship between the two title characters, never wandering off on unwelcome tangents. There are subplots, to be sure, but even those are crucial to the evolution of Harry and Sally's friendship...For those who appreciate romantic comedies for both aspects of the genre (the "romance" and the "comedy"), When Harry Met Sally is a treat. The film was good to nearly everyone involved, elevating the careers of Crystal and Reiner (both of whom were already well-established), transforming Ryan into a bankable leading lady, and boosting screenwriter Nora Ephron's star (she went on to script and direct the popular and profitable Sleepless in Seattle, with Ryan and Tom Hanks). Nearly ten years after first reaching American screens, When Harry Met Sally still holds up remarkably well. That really shouldn't be a surprise, however, since a good romance is timeless. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
"When Harry Met Sally . . ." is a love story with a form as old as the movies and dialogue as new as this month's issue of Vanity Fair...It's about two people who could be characters in a Woody Allen movie, if they weren't so sunny, and about how it takes them 12 years to fall in love. We're with them, or maybe a little ahead of them, every step of the way...The movie apparently believes that - and it also suggests that the best way to get rid of sex as an issue is to get married, since married people always seem too tired for sex. That and other theories about sex and relationships are tested as if Harry and Sally were proving grounds for Cosmopolitan, until finally, tired of fighting, they admit that they do love one another after all...The movie was written by Nora Ephron, and could be a prequel to her novel and screenplay "Heartburn," which starred Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep in the story of a marriage and divorce. But this marriage seems headed for happier times, maybe because most of the big fights are out of the way before love is even declared...Harry is played by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan is Sally, and they make a good movie couple because both actors are able to suggest genuine warmth and tenderness. This isn't a romance of passion, although passion is present, but one that becomes possible only because the two people have grown up together, have matured until they can finally see clearly what they really want in a partner..."When Harry Met Sally . . . " was directed by Rob Reiner, the onetime Meathead of "All in the Family," whose credits now qualify him as one of Hollywood's very best directors of comedy. Reiner's films include "The Sure Thing," "Stand by Me," "This Is Spinal Tap!" and "The Princess Bride." Each film is completely different from the others, and each one is successful on its own terms. - Roger Ebert
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