Perfect

Rating: 10/10 (27 April 2019)

When Harry Met Sally... does something most rom-coms don't have the guts to do. Instead of presenting a couples meet-cute as the end-all, be-all of their relationship, it treats it merely as a wonderful anecdote. The truth of romance isn't the perfect, magical moments we tell at dinner parties, but is the endurance of the commitment and love. Reiner proves this through transcendently great characters and a unique series real-life vignettes of couples telling their own stories. That interest in familiar sincerity gives us a rom-com that's both honestly romantic and truly comedic, never sacrificing one for the other.
It's a ten-year journey of two people who hate each other, become friends, and inevitably but unintentionally fall in love; the kind of comedy Woody Allen could've made if he weren't so cynically self-obsessed. Ryan and Crystal get past their own professional limitations, stepping into their titular roles with endless likability. Their magnetic radiance helps sell every ever-changing aspect of their relationship.
But the script is the star here. The dialogue sweeps you up, having the bounce of old screwball-fare, but with a more naturalistic touch. Moments like "I'll have what she's having" have become so ubiquitous, we forget how perfect they really are.
Best of all, it manages to present the western stereotypes of men and women, while never defending them as absolute truth. Reiner and writer Nora Ephron use those stereotypes, certainly, but not as exact sciences so much as comedic tools, before upending them wherever possible.
This was at the pinnacle of Reiner's filmmaking streak, having a flawless knack for picking great scripts, and When Harry Met Sally... is arguably his crowning achievement.