August 31, 2017
'You've Got Mail'
The Ringer's Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins deep dive into the 1998 romantic comedy 'You've Got Mail,' starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. They discuss Tom Hank's epic acting run in the '90s, the hallmarks of a Nora Ephron movie, the formula for a successful romantic comedy, how this movie predicts the future and hints at modern catfishing, and more.
Cast
Tom Hanks as Joe Fox
Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly
Dave Chappelle as Kevin
Parker Posey as Patricia Eden
Greg Kinnear as Frank Navasky
Steve Zahn as George
Heather Burns as Christina
Dabney Coleman as Nelson Fox
Jean Stapleton as Birdie
Directed by: Nora Ephron
Written by: Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron
Notes
- Tom Hanks' incredible '90s run: 'A League of Their Own', 'Sleepless in Seattle', 'Philadelphia', 'Forrest Gump', Apollo 13, 'Toy Story', That Thing You Do!, 'Saving Private Ryan', 'You've Got Mail', 'Toy Story' 2, The Green Mile, and 'Cast Away'.
- This is a spiritual sequel to 'Sleepless in Seattle' – same stars, same director, made because they all wanted to get the gang back together again.
- Nora Ephron co-wrote the screenplay with her sister Delia Ephron.
- Amanda has watched the movie roughly 150 times, primarily to fall asleep, over the course of six to seven years.
- Meg Ryan didn't have a computer until this movie – she got one from the production company.
- The original 1998 Warner Brothers promotional website for the movie was still live as of recording.
- Product placement for AOL and Starbucks was controversial at the time but looks quaint by 2017 standards.
- The Fox Books location was based on a Barnes & Noble on 66th Street, which later became a Century 21. The shop around the corner was based on a cheese store on 69th and Amsterdam.
- The film is based on The Shop Around the Corner (1940), itself based on a Hungarian play. The hosts consider it part of the last gasp of the modern rom-com era that started with 'When Harry Met Sally'.
- Jean Stapleton improvised the cybersex line: 'I tried to have cybersex once, but I kept getting a busy signal'.
Categories
Most re-watchable scene
- The opening New York montage – walking around the Upper West Side with the Cranberries playing, the two of them passing each other on the street. 'It sets you very clearly in a time and place... it shows you the snow globe of the world.'
- The first meeting in the bookstore when Joe brings Aunt Annabelle and the kid keeps spelling F-O-X. 'That's just like a classic... it's all of the moments when they are interacting together in New York.'
What aged the best?
- Everything the movie predicted came true: gentrification of the Upper West Side, online dating, chat rooms (Slack is just a collection of chat rooms), independent bookstores losing to chains who then lost to Amazon.
- Kathleen Kelly's apartment – 'It looks like Anthropologie... very Pinterest, very Instagram friendly.' The clothes came back in style too (Eileen Fisher normcore).
- The modern catfishing lineage – they meet in an over-30s chat room, and this is part of the origin story of online romantic deception.
What aged the worst?
- Meg Ryan's haircut – 'It's of a moment to be sure.' Very few people besides her could wear it.
- Tom Hanks' character only wants to meet her if she's pretty enough – 'He wasn't going to go in if she wasn't attractive.' Would be written differently now.
- The general relationship to the internet is naive and silly, because the internet barely existed in 1998.
- Greg Kinnear's character works for the Observer, which is now owned by Jared Kushner – awkward for a movie about bleeding-heart liberals.
Best "heat check" performance
- Parker Posey – very limited screen time but a huge impact. The book party scene where Meg Ryan says 'how do you sleep at night' and Parker Posey starts giving her over-the-counter sleeping pill prescription is pitch perfect.
- Runner-up: Steve Zahn – 'a real cult following.' His combination of 'You've Got Mail' and That Thing You Do! was formative for the hosts. 'He's got the range.'
Apex Mountain
- Not Tom Hanks' apex – but this incredible '90s streak is unheard of. 'This performance is tossed off... it's so natural. It's not his apex, he's not even trying that hard.'
- Peak Meg Ryan – 'I think it's a precipitous drop-off from here.' After 'You've Got Mail': Hanging Up, 'Proof of Life', Kate & Leopold, In the Cut, Against the Ropes. Amanda is sticking with this one over 'When Harry Met Sally'.
- Nora Ephron – personally the hosts' favorite, but they acknowledge 'When Harry Met Sally' 'had an impact on a greater scale' and is the actual peak.
Picking nits
- Sara Ramirez's weird unidentified accent at Zabar's – 'Turning her into some kind of ethnic cashier... that wouldn't fly.' The knock-knock joke playing on her 'loose grasp of English' is the one cheap moment in the movie.
- The houseboat lifestyle – 'That's just ridiculous.' Three book moguls as super villains with mohair couches and matching boats at the 79th Street Boat Basin.
(Probably) unanswerable questions
- The economics of the Shop Around the Corner – could a children's bookstore on the Upper West Side really have survived even without Fox Books?
- Why is Dave Chappelle in this movie? He'd been in The Nutty Professor, 'Con Air', and Half Baked. 'It's always just kind of overlooked in the Dave Chappelle history.'
- Are the Foxes still rich today? 'They've certainly taken a hit. They don't have the fancy mohair couches and the boats anymore.'
Who won the movie?
- Split decision – Amanda says Meg Ryan: 'For me it's all downhill after this... I just find her so winning and charming.'
- Juliet says Tom Hanks: 'This is such an effortless great Hanks performance... he just woke up and decided I'll do this today and it was better than anyone else would be able to do.'