You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Directed by: Nora Ephron | 119 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Parker Posey, Jean Stapelton, Greg Kinnear, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns, Dave Chappelle, Dabney Coleman, John Randolph, Deborah Rush, Hallee Hirsh, Jeffrey Scaperrotta, Cara Seymour, Katie Finneran

After the big box office success of ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ (1993), the trio Ephron, Ryan and Hanks now reunite for the second time in the romantic comedy ‘You’ve Got Mail’. For Tom and Meg, this is even the third romantic comedy they make together. Their first movie together was ‘Joe vs. The Vulcano’.

‘You’ve Got Mail’ is a friendly film that flows wonderfully. You can be brief about the content. Two people send each other mail via the net. However, without knowing about each other, they hate each other in real life, but in the end, of course, they turn out to be made for each other. All’s well that ends well. And that’s how it should be in romantic comedies.

Story-wise, the film is built up quite logically. Cause and effect follow each other immediately, so that there are few time or action gaps, something we don’t see much in films lately. Haste and speed are two of the biggest flaws of today’s film industry. Too little time is taken to work out characters, plot lines or complications, which does not always benefit viewing pleasure.

Still, ‘You’ve Got Mail’ isn’t very special from a story point of view. The standard ingredients of a romantic comedy have been modernized and voilà: here’s the new version of ‘Sleepless in Seattle’. What makes both films unique, however, is the attraction between the two actors. The pleasure of working together radiates from them and whether they are angry or happy with each other, there is a certain energy between them that is very contagious.

Jean Stapleton and Parker Posey have been chosen for the two supporting roles. The latter played her part superbly, perfectly cast as Tom’s spoiled girlfriend. All the characters she has played so far have always had a flaw in some way. Here too she has mastered a number of typical mannerisms, which makes her characters very annoying from the first second.

The film is based on the story of ‘The Shop Around the Corner’ and the later stage adaptation ‘She Loves Me’. Meg’s shop in the new version is therefore called the shop around the corner, but in this more modern version the letter has lost out to e-mail and the computer. An important change for a film that focuses on the replacement of the small ‘shops around the corner’ by large retail chains.