SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE

(June 1993, U.S.)

I love SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, but part of this blog post is going to be highly critical of its ever-popular status as one of the best love stories on film - but I'll get into that a little later. Still, I can't help but start off with some questionable criticism as to the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It works well enough for the little time they spend together on screen in this film (and continued to work well in YOU'VE GOT MAIL), but if the late Nora Ephron was banking on their star power to come together effectively based solely on their previous 1990 effort, JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO, then their faith must have been equally accompanied by their caution.

In any film where someone has lost the one they love, in this case architect Sam Baldwin recently relocated from Chicago to Seattle (Hanks), then it's immediately apparent they'll find love again at some point. The fact that it's a call-in radio talk show that plants the initial seed is highly original, in my opinion. The additional fact that it's the grieving widower's eight year-old son that calls the show on behalf of his father, claiming he's very sad and needs a new wife, is even more original. If nothing else, it reminds us all living in the 21st Century of the possibilities behind the power of national radio, once-upon-a-time. No sooner has the radio discussion between Sam and the show's psychologist ended on Christmas Eve, that he's immediately receiving thousands of letters by desperate (and crazy?) women all over the United States who want to meet him. We, of course, are focussed on Meg Ryan's character Annie, who spends Christmas Eve driving and listening to the radio show in her car. She's not only touched by Sam's voice and story, but can't stop thinking of and fantasizing about him from across the U.S., despite her engagement to Walter (played by Bill Pullman), who's obnoxiously allergic to everything on this planet! After watching the film AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, she impulsively writes a letter suggesting that she and Sam meet on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day.

Meanwhile, as Sam attempts to get on with his life romantically, his wise-ass son Jonah is determined to bring his dad and Annie together, even if his dad wants no part of it. Sam's smart, I suppose, because he knows that meeting some stranger based on a letter, which in turn, is based on the sound of his voice on the radio is a potentially dangerous situation. Still, we can't ignore the fact that Sam's dating a co-worker who laughs like a hyena and can probably do a lot better. Jonah is also very stubborn and takes it upon himself to fly to New York by himself to meet Annie. By the time Sam has followed Jonah in a desperate act to reunite with his son, he and Annie finally meet and all is happily-ever-after in the magical-make-believe land of Hollywood love stories; fade to black, end credits and Celine Dion starts singing!

Okay, so let's dive into the problem I have with this film. It's hailed as such a great love story, with so much warmth and gentleness, but exactly WITH WHO is this great love between? By the time Sam and Annie have finally found each other and met at the top of the Empire State Building, the story is over and we have absolutely no idea if these two are going to make it or not. While both Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are such likable characters on their own, we can't ignore the fact that their initial meetings are awkward and tense, thus suggesting there's much work to be done between the two of them if they're going to truly win each other's hearts and affection. This is a lot of work that would traditionally be handled during the love story and not following it. Is the great love between Annie and Walter? Hardly. Even she practically admits that she's settling down with the poor bastard simply because it feels like the right thing to do. Even when she dumps him to go and meet Sam, he's hardly that broken up about it, suggesting that he was never really in love with her, either. So, really, when you get down to it, where is the great love story between man and woman? It simply doesn't exist, I tell you! Instead, I see the great love Sam had for his wife who died young, as is effectively suggested by the dream he has on New Year's Eve when she sits with him on the couch and shares his beer. But even more so, I believe the great love story of this film lies between father and son, as they not only try to survive the loss of a loved one together, but also come to terms with each other in their own relationship amidst the daily grind of life and routine in a new city. Jonah longs for a new mother, but also longs to see his father happy again. Each of them, in their own stubborn manner, must deal with each other's acts against each other in order to achieve happiness in the end. Really, if that's not the true love of SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, then I don't know what is.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Sam Baldwin: "There is no way we are going to New York to meet some woman who could be a crazy, sick lunatic! Didn't you see FATAL ATTRACTION?"
Jonah Baldwin: "You wouldn't let me!"
Sam: "Well I saw it, and it scared the shit out of me! It scared the shit out of every man in America!"