When Harry Met Sally... Movie Review

When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

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Written by: Nora Ephron
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby
Rated: R
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Plot
Two strangers share a car trip from Chicago to New York, discovering it is impossible for men and women to be "just friends."

Verdict
The premise in the movie is that men and women can't be just friends, it will always lead to something more. Through the rest of the movie we see Harry and Sally grow closer. We want them to get together as that's how movies work. This tells us they can't be friends while a large portion of the movie is them being friends. They try to deny it, but they both know. When they finally have that moment together, they don't know what to do and both flee. It's the end to what could have been a relationship and their friendship, but neither are happy being apart. They miss the other, and they're mourning the relationship. Distraught Harry goes to Sally and admits he can't live without her. It's a romance movie that defies the typical story. The leads spend most of the movie emphatic they don't like each other while the audience knows they do.
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Review
This spans decades, starting when Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) meet in college, sharing a ride. It's clear she's a planner and likes a degree of control while Harry is carefree yet pessimistic. They bicker from the start with Harry asserting she's uptight because she's never had good sex. He then asserts, one of the most quoted lines from the movie, that men and women can't be friends as sex always gets in the way. Any male friend a woman has, he wants sex. It's clear she's not interested, and since they can't be friends, there's just nothing there.

Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal play Sally, Harry

Five years later they run into each other at the airport. He remembers her due to a complicated drink order. It's ten years after college that they become friends. She's just broken up with her boyfriend and he's newly separated. Harry is surprised and impressed at his platonic relationship with Sally. He doesn't have to impress her and he can be completely honest while getting a female perspective on relationships. But this contradicts the original premise of the movie. They can't just be friends despite appearances. Will the movie sustain or defy the premise? Has Harry just matured since college?

Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan play Harry, Sally

There's the famous scene in a deli where Harry states his girlfriend is obviously satisfied. Sally counters that an orgasm can be faked, demonstrating that in the restaurant much to Harry's chagrin and the interest of everyone surrounding them. 

They try to set each other up with their best friends, denying their chemistry, only for the best friends to more interested in each other. We're shipping Harry and Sally, and they seem destined to be together with the way they rely and defend each other. When she's upset about her ex getting married, they have sex. He's distraught at losing a friend and the relationship changing. They're both weird about the situation, drifting apart. Finally Harry goes to Sally and admits his feelings. That's the movie's finale with a quick epilogue that they were soon married. This epilogue follows interstitials of different older couples that relate how they met and how long they've been married. This movie has been Harry and Sally's meet cute.