Director: Nora Ephron
Writer: Jeff Arch, Nora Ephron, David S Ward (Screenplay)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, Victor Garber, David Hyde Pierce, Francs Conroy, Rob Reiner
Plot: A recently widowed man’s son calls a radio talk-show in an attempt to find his father a partner.
Tagline – What if someone you never met, someone you never saw, someone you never knew was the only someone for you?
Runtime: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Romance 101
Story: Sleepless in Seattle starts when recently widowed Sam (Hanks) decides he needs to move to start a new life with his son Jonah (Malinger), leaving Chicago, heading to Seattle, 18 months later in Baltimore Annie (Ryan) is introducing her new fiancée Walter (Pullman) to her family.
When Jonah makes a phone call to the local radio show, he tells the doctor hosting the show about his concern about his father, which suddenly sees a large number of women wanting to meet Sam, with Annie assigned to try and make a story about Sam, even starting to get a happy feeling about the stranger on the radio.
Thoughts on Sleepless in Seattle
Characters – Sam Baldwin has just lost his wife, he doesn’t want to fall in love again, believing he could never do this, he wants to focus on raising his son and moving him away from the memories of his wife, starting a new life in Seattle. Building his business up, he hasn’t started dating, until his son calls a radio station for help getting him back out there, he works with his son to find the right women. Annie is a happily engaged woman who is looking forward to her wedding, a reporter at the peak of her career, until she hears the radio show and starts to want to meet Sam, even make a story about his search. She does border along the lines of stalker with why she is trying to get closer to Sam. Jonah is the son of Sam, he is worried about his father not moving on with his life and calls the radio station, which sees him trying to help find a woman for him.
Performances – Tom Hanks is always delightful to watch in this film, he brings his character complete down to Earth with how he acts through the film. Meg Ryan does bring her best too, showing us how an engaged woman could start getting jittery feet, with Ross Malinger being adorable as the son who wants the best for his dad.
Story – The story here follows a widowed father that is happy to help his son live his life, only for his son to try and help him find a new wife, which sees Annie becoming obsessed with the story and wanting to meet the man behind the radio voice. This is a story before the time of the creepiness of what the internet could have created around it, though it does show the good natured desire from a young boy to help his father enjoy his life after losing his wife, it shows that children can understand the pain a grieving. This does also show the jitters that somebody about to get married can have and it also highlights how the world can become crazy when it comes to wanting to know the truth about somebody surrounded in mystery.
Comedy/Romance – The comedy in this film comes from natural interactions, it doesn’t dive into looking for laughs, which is nice to see, with the romance being sweet for the time, though it does become very creepy now.
Settings – The film does show us the distance between the two with maps, which is something a lot of films just assume you know the America geography, this is key to make this more much interesting.
Scene of the Movie – Empire State Building.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is a story that wouldn’t click in the modern world now.
Final Thoughts – This is a romantic comedy with a twist, it does show us how you could find love from anywhere in the world, though it might not be on the same level as it once was when it was made.
Overall: Sweet Little Romance.
