Rewatchables Reference

• The radio call scene – Jonah calls Dr. Marcia Fieldstone, then Sam gets on the phone and talks about his dead wife. 'She made everything beautiful.'
• Rita Wilson's improvised 'Affair to Remember' monologue.
• The ending – from the Bill Pullman dinner through the Empire State Building.
• Meg Ryan trying on the wedding dress in the attic.

• The gimmick of the two leads not meeting until the very end – revolutionary for the rom-com genre.
• Peak cute Meg Ryan.
• The soundtrack – Jimmy Durante, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Carly Simon – reached #1 on Billboard.
• Seattle as a setting – Pike Place, the water, the houseboat.
• The stalking/internet-research foreshadowing – 'foreshadows the next 30 years' of online research on prospective partners.
• Rob Reiner as an actor – dopey but sarcastic.
• Rosie O'Donnell's resting bitch face when Walter gets brought up.

• The flight graphics/map at the end – terrible CGI.
• 8-year-old buying an airplane ticket, flying cross-country alone, getting a cab to the Empire State Building.
• Multiple people in different cities all listening to the same radio show simultaneously.
• Annie's stalking behavior.
• Pre-9/11 airline stuff – going to the gate, no security.
• Every computer scene looks like 1842.

• Walter's reaction to the broken engagement – he doesn't seem to understand it's over, too dumb.
• Gabby Hoffmann's father character – totally out of place, like a Seinfeld character.

• Bill: The #1 reason this movie works is because Tom Hanks (male GOAT of rom-coms) and Meg Ryan (female GOAT of rom-coms) are in the same movie and they're so good they don't even have to be in the same scenes.
• Amanda: A year and a half is way too soon to be shopping for a new wife.

• 'Bye Bye Blackbird' – after the scene about forgetting his wife.
• 'Stand By Your Man' – propulsive energy at the end.
• 'Back in the Saddle Again' – when Sam starts dating again.
• 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' – during the radio call.

• The wide shot of the funeral with Chicago in the background.
• The helicopter shot pulling back from Jonah to reveal all of New York.

Gabby Hoffmann's father – comes in smoking hot, totally wrong energy for the movie.

• Julia Roberts was offered Annie and turned it down.
• Kim Basinger was also considered for Annie.
• Meg Ryan pushed for Dennis Quaid (her husband) as Sam; Ephron overruled it.
• Nick Castle was originally set to direct before Nora Ephron.

• David Hyde Pierce – a that-guy at the time, before Frasier made him famous.
• Victor Garber – the '30 years later' that-guy pick, been in a million things including 'Titanic' but nobody knows his name.

Rita Wilson – her improvised 'Affair to Remember' monologue steals the movie.

• Bill: Miles Teller as Sam, Jennifer Lawrence as Annie.
• Juliet: John Krasinski as Sam.
• Gender-flip idea: Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Sam.

• Budget $21 million, grossed $127.8 million – #5 movie of 1993.
• Nora Ephron was meticulous about actors saying lines exactly as written, except the Rita Wilson scene which was improvised.
• Tom Hanks pushed for the kid to make the radio call instead of Sam.
• Parker Posey was cut from the film.
• The original Jonah actor was fired after a few days and replaced by Ross Malinger.

• Meg Ryan – yes, definitively. 'This is the peak for sure.'
• Seattle – yes, 1993 is Apex Mountain for Seattle (grunge, Sonics, Starbucks, Frasier, this movie).
• Nora Ephron – yes, 'When Harry Met Sally' was the breakthrough, this cements her.
• Tom Hanks – not quite yet, 'Forrest Gump' the next year is his apex, but this sets it up.
• Houseboats – yes, 'what's your first thought? Tom Hanks 'Sleepless in Seattle'.'

• 8-year-old navigating cross-country travel alone.
• Walter's allergies don't add up – allergic to wheat but orders on white bread.
• Lettuce and tomato sandwich with nothing on it – 'serial killer move.'
• Sam doesn't know what tiramisu is despite being an adult.

Discussed remaking it – gender-flip with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, updating for the internet era. Consensus: 'untouchable' but interesting ideas.

'You've Got Mail'. Or the triple feature: 'When Harry Met Sally' + 'Sleepless in Seattle' + 'You've Got Mail'.

• Jonah's red and yellow backpack.
• The swivel egg chair Jonah and Gabby Hoffmann sit in.
• The phone Hanks uses to call Dr. Marcia Fieldstone.

Stalking your future husband is OK if you're positive it's your future husband – but boundaries: the second location is OK, standing outside someone's door is not.

Split – Bill and Juliet say Meg Ryan. Amanda says Nora Ephron: 'without this movie, Nora Ephron is a celebrated humorist who wrote and/or directed a couple movies; this cements her.'