Rating: PG
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 05/04/1999
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 120 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Sleepless in Seattle director
Nora Ephron originally made a name for herself as the writer of
romantic comedies such as
Heartburn and
When Harry Met Sally. She continues the genre with
You've Got Mail, marking her second collaboration with actors
Tom Hanks and
Meg Ryan. The story brings romance and courtship into the electronic age of the World Wide Web via e-mail and chat rooms.
Joe Fox (
Hanks) and
Kathleen Kelly (
Ryan) live and work blocks from each other on New York City's Upper West Side. Their lives are practically intertwined. They both shop at the same place, frequent the same coffee shop, and even own competing bookstores on the same street. They also both have significant others of their own.
Joe has the overly hyper book editor
Patricia Eden (
Parker Posey), while
Kathleen lives with the scholarly newspaper columnist
Frank Navasky (
Greg Kinnear). Then they meet in a chat room. Though they keep their identities secret (they're known only by screen names "NY152" and "Shopgirl"), they tell each other everything about their lives, including their private feelings, which slowly turn into affection for each other. When
Joe decides to open a new branch of his "Foxbooks" chain that risks putting
Kathleen's "Shop Around the Corner" out of business, the tension between them escalates. Surely her boutique business will be lost to the conglomerate with a built-in newsstand and coffee bar. When
Joe sees
Kathleen waiting for him in the restaurant where they agreed to meet up, he puts two and two together, but cannot face her, given their agreement not to reveal each others' names and professions. How can he reveal himself to her now, knowing that he is the cause of her misery? Hopefully, love will conquer all.
~ Chris Gore, All Movie Guide
