There are three things to remember in relationships

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2008)

1) Men are always idiots before they hit thirty (And usually after) 2) Most men have no taste and 3) and the one that never gets mentioned is that even when women are wrong they will never admit to it.
And for me this is the key thing that separates this movie from others as I have seen countless romantic comedies where the bloke makes mistakes and gets things wrong, but there very few movies where the female lead is as flawed and f***ed up as the man (Only 2 spring to mind).
This is the story of Harry and Sally, two people who meet on the journey to a new life in New york. In the road trip there we learn 2 things, 1) Harry is a jerk and 2) Sally has still not been opened up sexually. These are clear from the conversations that take place, and the two leads play these roles to perfection.
We leap frog 5 years and then another 5 years to see both characters coming to the end of long-term relationships and both suffering in different ways, Harry by seeking refuge in one night stands and Sally by being in denial, however as their friendship blossoms they both start to begin the healing process and as the movie moves further through their lives to it's inevitable conclusion we find out a hell of a lot about relationships and life in general as we go through one of the most enjoyable 90 minutes that the movies have produced over the last 20 years.
The two leads are played with charm, vulnerability and honesty by Crystal and Ryan as the discuss anything and everything, from young girl's lack of understanding of "Casablanca" to the difference between women's and men's sex dreams. Whilst Nora Ephron's script is superb, what marks this out from later efforts are 2 things. Billy Crystal's superb comic skill, which can take something that's nothing and make it fantastic, and the direction of Rob Reiner, which avoids some of the later Ephron efforts of being too over the top or over-long due to her desire, like most writers, to get every word from the page onto the screen, which often doesn't work.
This is one of the best films of the eighties, but like many great films of this era "Tootsie", "Bill and Ted" and "Ghostbusters" it is regarded as being, well, not as good as it is due to being made in the eighties.
Fashion changes, class remains and this is class
Nuff said.
Em.