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IMDbPro

When Harry Met Sally...

  • 19891989
  • RR
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
227K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,052
210
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer2:11
4 Videos
99+ Photos
ComedyDramaRomance
Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
227K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,052
210
  • Director
    • Rob Reiner
  • Writer
    • Nora Ephron
  • Stars
    • Billy Crystal
    • Meg Ryan
    • Carrie Fisher
  • Director
    • Rob Reiner
  • Writer
    • Nora Ephron
  • Stars
    • Billy Crystal
    • Meg Ryan
    • Carrie Fisher
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 394User reviews
    • 136Critic reviews
    • 76Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 5 wins & 17 nominations total

    Videos4

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:11
    Watch Official Trailer
    When Harry Met Sally...
    Trailer 2:08
    Watch When Harry Met Sally...
    When Harry Met Sally...
    Clip 1:58
    Watch When Harry Met Sally...
    The Characters of Rob Reiner: Where Are They Now?
    Video 1:44
    Watch The Characters of Rob Reiner: Where Are They Now?

    Photos155

    Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal, Carrie Fisher, and Bruno Kirby in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Billy Crystal
    Billy Crystal
    • Harry Burns
    Meg Ryan
    Meg Ryan
    • Sally Albright
    Carrie Fisher
    Carrie Fisher
    • Marie
    Bruno Kirby
    Bruno Kirby
    • Jess
    Steven Ford
    Steven Ford
    • Joe
    Lisa Jane Persky
    Lisa Jane Persky
    • Alice
    Michelle Nicastro
    Michelle Nicastro
    • Amanda
    Gretchen Palmer
    Gretchen Palmer
    • Stewardess
    Robert Alan Beuth
    Robert Alan Beuth
    • Man on Aisle
    David Burdick
    • 9 Year Old Boy
    Joe Viviani
    • Judge
    Harley Jane Kozak
    Harley Jane Kozak
    • Helen
    • (as Harley Kozak)
    Joseph Hunt
    • Waiter at Wedding
    Kevin Rooney
    • Ira
    Franc Luz
    Franc Luz
    • Julian
    Tracy Reiner
    Tracy Reiner
    • Emily
    Kyle T. Heffner
    Kyle T. Heffner
    • Gary
    • (as Kyle Heffner)
    Kimberley LaMarque
    • Waitress
    • Director
      • Rob Reiner
    • Writer
      • Nora Ephron
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The segments of married couples telling the stories of how they met are real stories that director Rob Reiner collected for the film. Then they hired actors to relay the stories.
    • Goofs
      Near the end, when Sally is typing on her computer, apparently she is typing the longest word in the history of modern language, because her fingers never touch the "space" bar.
    • Quotes

      Harry Burns: I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Lethal Weapon 2/The Karate Kid Part III/Great Balls of Fire/Weekend at Bernie's/A Taxing Woman Returns (1989)
    • Soundtracks
      Our Love Is Here To Stay
      Written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin

      Published by Chappell & Co.

      Performed by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald

      Courtesy of PolyGram Special Products, a Division of PolyGram Records Inc.

      Performed by Harry Connick Jr.

      Courtesy of CBS Records

      By Arrangement with CBS Records Music Licensing Department

    User reviews394

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Famous romantic comedy
    Can men and women ever be merely friends, without the temptation of sex rearing its ugly head? This is the question that this movie so famously posed - and so glibly answered - almost fifteen years ago. As it follows the progression of Harry and Sally - a pair of charming, if neurotic, Manhattanites - from enemies to confidants to lovers, it seems to smugly relish the fact that it has proven its point: men and women can never just "be friends" - sex is always the bond that unites them. But the film is so manipulative, so dogged in its pursuit of this goal, that it never appears an alternative position was ever considered. So, as philosophy, chalk When Harry Met Sally up to around zilch.

    Now, disregard the above paragraph. Because When Harry Met Sally makes up for its slights to credibility and lack of rigorous thought by being easily the funniest movie of its year (1989). This humor flows mainly from the beautifully crafted scenes and dialogue; indeed, each scene is a dialogue set piece (and could be transferred to the stage quite easily - surprising no one's ever done it, actually), which flows with the firm and confident rapidity of a 20th century Shaw or Oscar Wilde. Of course, this approach has its downside, too: mainly that the lead characters seem less and less like real people and more like tools for the brilliant lines and conceits of the screenwriter (Nora Ephron - never better; in fact, never even remotely close ever again). This may have something to do with the film's inability to seem completely real or true to human nature as it actually plays out - but with lines like these, who's complaining?

    For, what is great about the movie is not its originality (it steals from all over, especially Woody Allen movies, and the few ideas it can truly call its own are, as I've said, not particularly bright or well-thought out), but its ability to hone in on stereotypes of character and situation and offer pithy and hilarious precis of the male-female condition through the witty banter and interaction of its characters. As such, the film is less like a conventional movie and more like a stand-up routine dealing with life and love in the Big City: it is to be judged not by its content, but by the dexterity of its put-ons and one-liners. (It is not surprising, for example, that several of its set-pieces and comic notions were revisited just a few years later, and in much the same manner, on "Seinfeld".) In that regard, it succeeds flawlessly.

    Just think of all the conventions it gets in, and skewers: the one-track mind male (Harry); the "sensitive" and practical female, repulsed yet intrigued by said male (Sally); the emotionally unsettled mistress playing the field (Carrie Fisher, who keeps an index card file of "available" men); the live-ins who can't "commit" (Sally and her ex-boyfriend); women's concern with middle age and their biological clock ("I'm gonna be 40," weeps Sally. "When?" asks Harry. "Someday."); the male's tendency to skip out after making love; the horror and unpredictability of blind dates; and, in a scene which is almost passe to mention anymore, women's ability to fake orgasm. The way this film jumps from one familiar convention to another would be embarrassing if it weren't for the fact that each one is handled with such economy, humor and grace.

    Billy Crystal acquits himself well as Harry - predictably, perhaps, as it's a part tailor made for a standup comedian. Still, seeing him in this after years of half-baked movies and fawning Oscar presentations, it's a revelation how glib and unlikable he can allow himself to be . . . and *still* be likable. Yo, Billy, if you're listening out there: try incorporating some of Harry's darker shadings and more egocentric traits into your future roles; it gives you a more complete palette to work from and keeps you from being too generic and schticky. And your charm and humor will always shine through anyway.

    If Billy needs to edge a little bit closer back to Harry, though, Meg Ryan needs to get Sally completely out of her system. This role, deservedly, made her a star - but she has tried to go back to this particular well once too many times, and it's become way too familiar: you know, the adorable, bright-eyed bit - mentally disheveled, prissy around the edges with just a wisp of klutziness, all topped by that cute, mega-watt smile. It has become now the "Meg Ryan" character, but back when Sally came along it was still fresh, and it was tied to a particular personality. Ryan gives Sally a shy-cum-toughness as well as a moody, slightly cynical and self-deprecating wit that is just totally right. She and Crystal play off each other like two old pros, and they weave in and out of some charming and hilarious verbal music.

    It's funny, but I just recently saw this movie on a Saturday afternoon television marathon of "Romantic Weepies" - and it struck me as an odd designation, because this movie is anything but a weeper. It takes a clear-eyed, almost cynical view of love and companionship, and creates around it a charming tapestry of bracing wit and crunching dialogue. So save the violins and the handkerchiefs for romantic comedies less sure on their feet - whose deficiency in wit must be made up for by a surfeit of melodrama and manipulation. This movie is manipulative too, of course, but its manipulation is almost beside the point. It's the laughs along the way we remember here, not the big kiss or the grand embrace. That Harry and Sally were "meant" for each other and that the film "proves" it is much less important than the fact that Sally does one hell of a great orgasm.

    Waiter, I'll have what they're having . . .
    helpful•74
    17
    • krumski
    • Aug 26, 2002

    Iconic On-Screen Romances

    Iconic On-Screen Romances

    From steamy encounters to comedic couples, these love stories will stand the test of time.
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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 21, 1989 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • When Harry Met Sally
    • Filming locations
      • Katz's Delicatessen - 205 East Houston Street, East Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA(interiors: Harry & Sally discuss "faking it")
    • Production companies
      • Castle Rock Entertainment
      • Nelson Entertainment
      • Nelson Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $16,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $93,117,425
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $1,094,453
      • Jul 16, 1989
    • Gross worldwide
      • $93,273,565
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 35 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Stereo

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