Arguably the best romantic comedy of recent years.

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2007)

By the late eighties, the romantic comedy as a movie genre had been in a sort of disturbed sleep for twenty years with only an occasional and disappointing movie outing between snores.
Yet when they released 'When Harry met Sally' in 1989, it signified to the world that the RomCom was not only out of bed but it was showered, shaved, dressed in a brand new suit and ready to take on the world once more with new found confidence.
It's 1977 and Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) has just graduated from the University of Chicago and is moving to New York to start his career. He's a nice enough guy who's only flaw seems to be his apparent misogynistic and macabre outlook on life.
Also New York bound is fellow graduate Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) who as a favour for a friend agrees to take Harry along. The two have never met before and almost immediately Sally takes a dislike to him. His brash and over flirtatious demeanour irritates her intensely and her quirky prissiness becomes a natural target for his humour. He even sexually propositions her, which she of course rejects outright.
In view of all this coupled with Harry's somewhat blinkered idea that men and women can never be friends without sexual attraction becoming an issue, they reach New York and mutually call an abrupt halt to their 18 hour friendship, both convinced it has lasted 18 hours too long.
Fast forward five years and Harry and Sally meet again at an airport and when he discovers they are on the same flight, he approaches her to rekindle their friendship and this time things are even worse.
Despite both finding love and success in New York, the years have done nothing to kerb Harry's sexist and irritating views and Sally's abject disapproval of everything that he stands for seems even more pronounced. They part once again at journeys end, this time with Sally making it quite clear she wants nothing whatsoever to do with him again.
Another five years pass and both Harry and Sally meet in a bookshop both having recently lost the loves referred to in the previous paragraph. Harry is divorcing his unfaithful wife and Sally has just dumped her long-term relationship as it was becoming clear to her that it was never going to end in an 'I Do'.
This time however, possibly due to them both being humbled by recent events in their life, they find that they have empathy with each other and a friendship starts to build, a true platonic friendship to the extent where they finally become inseparable and reliant on each other almost on a brother and sister level.
They partner each other at functions when neither have a date, they set each other up on blind dates and even take day trips together to the museum, and by using each other as an emotional crutch they finally learn to settle the demons of their previous relationships.
It seems like Harry has finally realised and now thoroughly excepts that men and women CAN be friends without a sexual entanglement. In fact so secure are they in their beliefs that they are nothing more than just good friends, they seem completely oblivious to the fact that they have in fact fallen head of heals in love with each other.
Billy Crystal is on fine form in one of his most memorable and hilarious performances and Meg Ryan 'Fakes' her way into movie history in that now famous restaurant scene. With great direction by Rob Reiner, a superb script by Nora Ephron and wonderful support from Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby, 'When Harry Met Sally' is the Crème de la Crème of all the modern day RomComs.