You've Got Mail (1998)

"Just the beat of my heart. I have mail, from you...."

"All this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings." -- Kathleen


This captivating film from Nora Ephron about finding that special someone who makes our heart beat faster and lends love to our small lives is one of the best. While no adaptation of Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner starring Jimmy Stewart and the winsome Margaret Sullavan could be as fully realized as that screen classic, no one can deny the great romantic appeal and utter charm of this one.

New York is photographed by cinematographer John Lindley as a magical place for romance to bloom. Meg Ryan is disarmingly enchanting as the blossom Tom Hanks finds so much beauty in through email correspondence, not realizing until too late that he is the person responsible for putting her children's bookstore out of business, and vice versa. Set as the Christmas season approaches, there is a lilting charm to this romantic comedy which must be credited to the two stars.

Kathleen has run The Shop Around the Corner since her mother passed away. It has been a fixture in the neighborhood for 42 years. But when Fox Books opens just across the street, her little store, so personal and intimate, cannot compete with the huge discounts and coffee bar customers flock to at Fox. What she does not know is Joe Fox, who is responsible for her business woes, is also NY152, the person she is falling for online.

Her handle is Shopgirl, and since they have made a pact to only speak in generalities about their lives, neither discovers whom the other is, until they try to meet. Joe can't believe it is she waiting with her copy of Pride and Prejudice and red rose in the cafe. So NY152 stands her up, whilst Joe just happens along. Sparks of the wrong variety fly yet he cannot let her think her dream of finding someone dashed because he didn't care. It is when her store finally closes and he realizes he loves Kathleen that this film is at its most charming.

Joe works his way into her heart and discusses and advises her on her email relationship, finding ways to date her without her realizing she's being wooed. But he and his dog Brinkley finally must risk all and let her know and hope for love rather than disappointment. The final moments of this film are very special, Ryan especially wonderful showing everything she feels without saying a word. Hanks is pretty terrific here also, and the two have a screen chemistry you can feel.

Dave Chappelle as Joe's pal, Dabney Coleman as his father, and Greg Kinnear as her boyfriend, lend fine support. Both Joe and Kathleen are with someone else but the audience knows from the start that they belong together. A great soundtrack and humorous references to The Godfather offer smiles and warmth rather than outright laughter in a film with a quiet yet abundant charm. A wonderful film for anyone who still has the dream of someone. September 8, 2008

Meg Ryan was divine. Tom Hank was excellent. The movie was a real charmer.

Meg Ryan has always been a pretty face. Still you can see the subtle changes of her features over the years. In "Armed and Dangerous" of 1986, her pretty face was more school-girlish. In "When Harry Met Sally" of 1989, her pretty face was radiant and gorgeous. In "Sleepless in Seattle" of 1993, her pretty face was that of a beautiful mature woman. In "You've Got Mail", her pretty face was more angular because she had lost weight. With minimal make-up, she came across as a very fresh, adorable, natural beauty. It is this pretty face that I loved the most. And then those cute mannerisms, she truly captured my heart and many others' too. Many times this cuteness was exaggerated, but hey, it's ok. It's a movie, for entertainment. Enjoy it rather than critique it. I replayed many many times the part starting from Tom Hanks going to Meg Ryan's apartment with the daisy to start "tweaking his project", to the end of the movie. The section was purely one on one between Hanks and Ryan. I wish they lengthened this section. I also wish they lengthened the end where Ryan finally met Hanks the "NY152" email pen-pal for the first time, and of course Hanks the "Fox". I think the writer/director could make the ending more touching, say adding some reminiscence of old email, etc., to show again for the last time the bonding effect those email had on the both of them. They could also show more of Ryan's bitter-sweet reactions/ dialogues for being strung along by Hanks when he hid his "NY152" identity. I enjoy this movie thoroughly. I just hope they will re-issue the film, via videos if not the cinemas, incorporating the above wishes. I think this film, as it stands now, will become a classic. With the additions wished for, I think the film can become a "great" classic. September 7, 2008

Nice

The DVD for You've Got Mail has waited for a while on my DVD shelf before I felt like watching it. If I have known, it has been this nice and somehow funny, I would have watched it long earlier. This is a warm, humorous and charming movie. Although, Katleen and Joe have not met each other before, they know each other (not by identity) from the AOL emails. They have met each other in "Over thirties" chatroom and looks like they have been mailing each other since then, but secretly! Both of them are involved in a relationship, however, both of them love to hear the sentence "You've Got Mail" when they log into AOL mails service. If they have only known this sentence actually meant a lot more to them than they were aware of. When they decide to meet each other physically, Joe finds out that his mail friend Shopgirl has actually been a business competitor, Katleen, if we could name it so. Katleen or Shopgirl, owns a little book shop for children, but at the moment her business is threatened by Fox books recently established right next to her little shop. Maybe it is not hard to imagine now that Fox books is owned by Joe or NY152! Well, when Joe finds this out at their first attempt to meet each other, he avoids to introduce his email identity to Katleen, but acts as if he was around the meeting place by coincidence. Katleen would think she had been stood up by her email friend NY152 not knowing this email friend is her biggest competitor ever! Now it is time for him to capture Katleens's heart as "Joe the competitor" instead of NY152 since he seems to be already in love with her! Anddddd he does so. Katleen is forgiving and love does not understand much about competition anyways. They end up happly, just as you can see it IN the picture on the cover of the DVD! Again, time to time funny, time to time much competition but overall warm! See it! August 30, 2008

Great movie

Very romantic and funny with some great twists! Great to watch on a date or if you've been married for a while. It's really a feel-good-movie. I highly recommend it!

Other recommendations about movie: P.S. I Love You
books about relationships: I Love You. Now What?: Falling in Love is a Mystery, Keeping It Isn't August 4, 2008

I liked it!

this is a 5 star movie. and I liked it, i liked it a lot. i li i a lo tt July 28, 2008

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