If love at first sight is a reality(which it is, I can vouch for that after having suffered so many times) then so is hate at first sight.You meet a person who is a bit abrassive with the words and somewhat combative with his attitude and lo you decide then and there , this guy is to be kept away at an arm’s length or more.
We always expect people to be nice to us in first meetings with the plastic smile and fake appreciation pasted on their faces.When that doesn’t happen either you appreciate the frankness and honesty of the person or you go ahead with your life trying to forget this experience vowing never to meet the person again.Unfortunately the majority of the people fall in the later segment.
Sally Albright gives a lift to her friend’s boyfriend Harry Burns on a road trip to New York, both of them just fresh out of college.As they start chatting Sally is startled when Harry lays down his first philosophy "men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way"which is his honest feeling.
Even after a long discussion they keep on contradicting each other and by the time the journey ends both of them are happy of having got rid of the other’s company.Some years later they meet at the airport and then share a flight together.Both of them are in the midst of somewhat steady relationships, Harry even engaged.
But as they start talking to each other the subject again drifts back to the same old "Men and women and relationship and friendship" topic and both after forcefully voicing their differences part ways again hoping never to meet again.
Five years later they have a chance meeting again but this time it doesn’t end up as a one time affair.It becomes so much more.First a friendship which is enjoyed by both (more by Harry) as all that they do all the time is get involved in debates about the whole "relationships , friendships and the sex coming in between" topic.
Harry is happy that he can get the unbiased woman’s perspective on subjects.Then things cease to be that simple anymore as yes, you guessed it right, sex comes in between their friendship(but not in the way Harry had prophesized it to) and then well, they go back and forth a couple of times and eventually unite(I hope you don’t mind me revealing the ending as I don’t think it was ever in doubt).
When I was watching this movie more than the plot which has obvious loopholes(as all lovestories do) I was struck by the brilliant performances and the immensely entertaining dialogs.Billy Crystal as Harry plays the somewhat annoying, extremely honest, hugely talkative and perenially inquisitve(about matters relating to Women) character to perfection.
His understated yet strong screen presence gives the character all the facets it needs.The way he just rants out phillosophies(which sound utterly absurd to the other person and he is aware of it) with an absolutely straight face , as if he has no doubts whatsoever, is simply superb.
About Meg Ryan, well what can I say, she is a huge personal favorite of mine and the single biggest reason I have watched some utterly mushy romantic stories.I know she hams it up a bit in her overwhelmingly romantic avatars but I am sure If there ever was a "Emote with your eyes" contest , she would definitely come out tops in it.Be it the overwhelming disgust at Harry’s prophecies, the sorrow and disappointment at being single again or the joy of companionship, she does it all with aplomb by virtue of her face and those beautiful green eyes.Her character is the perfect antidote or maybe a counter to the invariably opinionated Harry.I could go on about her.
Rob Reiner’s direction and handling of the plot is delightfully subtle yet definitely impacting.Although he somehow has tried to make the movie extra mushy by throwing in anecdotes from old couples championing the cause of marriage and consciously trying to make the scenes funny, he still has more or less succeded in making a movie worth watching more than once.The real star of the movie, though is Nora Epron, **the writer.She has been able to enthuse thoughtful humour into so many scenes and all those conversations between Harry and Sally so succesfully by virtue of her words.Some samples follow.
Sally (trying to calm down Harry)-*Harry, you’re going to have to try and find a way of not expressing every
feeling that you have, every moment that you have them.
Harry Proposing
I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an
hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above
your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the
day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you
are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s
not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here
tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with
somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
*to which Sally tearfully replies
See that’s what you do, you say things like that and make it impossible for me to hate you.
Harry talking about his fantasy
Had my dream again where I’m making love, and the Olympic judges are watching.
I’d nailed the compulsories, so this is it, the finals. I got a 9.8 from the
Canadians, a perfect 10 from the Americans, and my mother, disguised as an East
German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount.
Discussing women
Harry : There are two kinds of women:
high maintenance and low maintenance.
Sally: Which one am I?
Harry: You’re the worst kind; you’re high maintenance but you think
you’re low maintenance.
Harry telling about his dark side(hillarious)
When I buy a new book, I read the last page first. That way, in case I die
before I finish, I know how it ends. That, my friend, is a dark side.
One of the funniest-
after Sally fakes orgasm in a restaurant just to show Harry
Another woman customer sitting nearby: [*to
waiter] I’ll have what she’s having.
Sally’s Fantasy
Harry**: That’s it? Some faceless guy
rips off all your clothes, and THAT’S the sex fantasy you’ve been having since
you were twelve?
Sally: Well
sometimes I vary it a little.
Harry: Which part?
Sally: What I’m wearing.
Sally telling Harry why she is angry
Yes it is. You are a human affront to all women and I am a woman.
So if you want to know Can two friends sleep together and still love each other in the morning?(the tagline) go ahead take a peek at the Harry Vs Sally warfare.Although I am not so sure of getting the answer to that one you might figure it out.
P.S-I just loved the "You say Tomato, I say Tomaato" song in the background to signify the differences in perspectives.It’s another highlight of the movie.