"Technology.  Name me one thing--one!--that we've gained from technology."      

YOU'VE GOT MAIL (PG) 

Reviewed December 19, 1998 - Check out the You've Got Mail Website.

Co-written/directed by Nora Ephron, and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, You've Got Mail is a romantic comedy that re-teams the trio that brought us Sleepless in Seattle back in 1993.  If you're at all familiar with Sleepless, you more or less already know what to expect in You've Got Mail: a light, charismatic, romantic 90's comedy filled with cute, likeable characters who somehow find each other in an otherwise cold and lonely modern world.  Well, it goes something like that anyways...

In You've Got Mail, Tom Hanks stars as Joe Fox, whose family owns and operates a large discount bookstore chain called "FoxBooks."  Meg Ryan stars as Kathleen Kelley, the owner of a small children's bookstore called "The Shop Around the Corner" on Manhattan's Upper West Side.  Joe and Kathleen are sworn enemies in real life, with the mass retailer "FoxBooks" threatening to put "The Shop Around the Corner" out of business.  In cyberspace, however, Joe (a.k.a. NY152) and Kathleen (a.k.a. shopgirl) are close friends and confidants, emailing and chatting with each other on everything and nothing, with neither person knowing the other's true identity.  The setup for this romantic comedy is thus very simple...what happens when "NY152" and "shopgirl," who are falling in love over the Internet, realize who they're really talking to?

As with other works by Nora Ephron, the success of You've Got Mail really boils down to the charisma and chemistry between the stars in the film.  In this case, of course, you've got two of the most popular and charismatic actors (Hanks and Ryan) in the lead roles, and the result is the kind of lively, sweet and perky moviegoing experience that audiences typically love.  Don't get me wrong, You've Got Mail is also filled with some wonderfully witty dialog and a few very funny sequences, but all of it is made better by the natural chemistry between Hanks and Ryan.  Folks, these two have got the romantic comedy routine down cold, making this film extremely easy to like.  Though it doesn't quite rise to the level of Ephron's classic When Harry Met Sally, this movie is a slight notch above Ephron's more recent efforts such as Sleepless in Seattle and Michael, and it's definitely worth seeing if you're up for some light entertainment. 

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

Eoakwell@BTInternet.com gives this movie  stars: "This boring and very unoriginal." (12/13/00)

roche_leonor@yahoo.com gives this movie  stars: "I love this movie! However, can someone tell me what the Tom Hanks said when he was proposing marriage to Meg Ryan in the movie. It's a long statement that has "for as long as we both shall live" in the end. Thanks." (5/16/99)

Brooke Jr gives this movie  stars. (5/15/99)

qaheri1@batelco.com.bh gives this movie  stars: "my friends toled me about the film and when i saw it i really loved it.And so far i did not see such agood film . so let me say WELL DONE to all who worked in this film Ahmed" (3/17/99)

ediekmann@sockets.net gives this movie  stars: "Enjoy a great movie with no violence or overt sex....just like the good old days." (1/19/99)

nickblaskowski@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "I enjoyed this one,because it kind of reminds me of a situation I have,I would really like to meet someone that I have met online as well.And they may be someone I already know.This is a great movie!Meg Ryan is beautiful!And I also like Tom Hanks,he is my favorite actor!" (1/19/99)

gillianlover@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: ""You've Got Mail" is somewhat disappointing. "Sleepless in Seattle" had believable romance, and a lot of comedy. The performances in "Seattle" were great. However Hollywood decides to repair Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks....yes, there is some chemistry, but the movie is humourless, and I did not laugh once. Tom Hanks looks a bit tired, Meg Ryan breezes through her role without much struggle whatsoever. Its simplicity and lack of plot development made it monotonous and the only intelligence in the film came too late after Tom Hanks realised who his online love really was. Nevertheless, its good natured attitude and light hearted mood no doubt made it easily watchable and averagely entertaining." (1/9/99)

spermicles@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "As good as romantic comedies come with Tom and Meg winning a nobel prize for chemistry !!!!!" (1/9/99)

amilhous@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "If you've been waiting for "Sleepless in Seattle" without the wit, you've found your movie. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, quickly becoming the most overused romantic-comedy pairing in modern movie making, find themselves without anything to do except go through their stock motions -- Tom Hanks mugging and contorting his face as he tries to write the right thing, Meg Ryan with her faked perkiness and on-cue tears. There's even the obligatory cute kid(s) and the now-stale lesbian subplot. You aleady know the plot (even the title gives it away) -- handsome businessman and beautiful shopowner meet on the Internet, yet, unbeknownst to the both of them, they are in fact at economic war with each other in real life. Even though this is the first big-budget movie about an email romance, the movie has almost no insights into said relationship or even the phenomenon itself. The two exchange heartfelt, soulful notes, predictably shrouded enough to hide their "true" identities, but nowhere is there an interesting comment about the Internet revolution, the ease and openness of communication through email, not even an allusion to the number of people who have indeed found love this way. Without anything really interesting to say, this movie quickly becomes an exercise in waiting for the inevitable, with no real laughs on the way. Even more maddeningly, when the couple does indeed start a real-life friendship, the move from wary distrust to open and free-flowing friendship is compressed into ten minutes, when really, it is the more interesting aspect of the movie -- how can a woman whose livelihood has been crushed by a hated enemy learn to accept him, even love him? This is the far better story, and it is tossed aside for the cheap gimmicks of sight gags, missed encounters, and flat jokes that make up the film. The movie makers assume that no-longer-fresh technology is enough of a novelty to keep a weak film afloat. They guess wrong. Delete. (1/5/99)

elhay@hotmail.com gives this movie  star: "Return to sender!" (12/22/98)