Which Classic to Watch Tonight: Sleepless in Seattle (Movie Review)

Which Classic to Watch Tonight: Sleepless in Seattle (Movie Review)

Directer: Nora Ephron
Producer: Gary Foster
Writer: Jeff Arch, Nora Ephron, David S. Ward,
Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, Rosie O'Donnell
Music: Marc Shaiman
Running time: 106 minutes

Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy film inspired by An Affair to Remember and used both its theme song and clips from the film in critical scenes. The climactic meeting at the top of the Empire State Building is a reference to a reunion between Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember that fails to happen because the Kerr character is struck by a car while en route. At one point, some of the characters discuss Affair, with Sam commenting that it sounds like a "chick movie."

A widower's (Hanks, A League of Their Own) love life has been zero since the death of his beloved wife a year and a half ago. His 8-year-old son calls a nationally broadcast advice program and drags his father on the air to talk about his problems.

While on the air, "Sleepless in Seattle" (as the widower is referred to) becomes the object of affection by thousands of women across the country, including a soon-to-be-married woman (Ryan, Joe Versus the Volcano) who makes it her mission to find this man and see if he's the one for her.

Sleepless in Seattle is a contrived, but still surprisingly effective romantic comedy that deftly portrays its characters and situations with assured ease, despite the farfetched premise. Writer-director Ephron (Bewitched, You've Got Mail) does a masterful job blending the comedy and tragedy into a satisfying union, and the actors give the ambitious concoction the believability it needs to succeed. It's an old fashioned kind of Hollywood production, so sweet and smart at times that it's almost impossible to not be enchanted on some level.

Movie Gooroo Rating: * * * (3 Stars)