hard to imagine a more pedestrian romance

Rating: 5/10 (14 January 2011)

It isn't exactly love at first sight: Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan share a car from Chicago to New York, and after a decade of chance encounters finally become close friends. But by mutual consent the two are determined not to sleep together, thinking that a commitment between lovers would somehow jeopardize the casual rapport they otherwise enjoy. Will they or won't they? It's a ridiculous argument at any rate: men and women can of course be just friends, but there's no reason for this couple to prove the point, since both are young, single, compatible, obviously attracted to each other, and have no luck with other partners. Nora Ephron's overwritten screenplay benefits from two stars with plenty of chemistry, playing characters with very little appeal: Harry is smug; Sally is cuddly; and neither is able to define him- or herself outside of a sexual relationship. Meg Ryan fakes a good orgasm, and the film in general does an even more convincing imitation of 'Annie Hall', to a point where it could easily suffer from charges of plagiarism.