Sleepless in Seattle

Summer of 1993 Movies-Sleepless in Seattle

Sleepless in Seattle being summer movie is interesting because it is not what one would consider a summer movie. There's no action, through its funny it wouldn't be consider a comedy, and its genre (romantic comedy)  is all but extinct. Sleepless in Seattle being a summer movie is an example of what is called counter programming in Hollywood. That is when a tv show/movie is released and it is the opposite of what is on that night or this case the opposite of the type of movie that comes in a movie season. Sleepless in Seattle is really two movies in one with one movie being really good and the other movie being ok. Surprisingly its the movie with Meg Ryan that's really strong and the one with Tom Hanks that is ok. In 1993 Tom Hanks wasn't what is he now which is a 2 time Oscar winning actor whose really respected and his movies can be expected to have a strong opening weekend which will make money. His career up to that point had been really up and down. He got his start in the tv show Bosom Buddies but it his role on an episode of Happy Days (in which he played a guy who learned karate so he could get his revenge on the Foz) that lead to his big break on the big screen. Former Happy Days star Ron Howard (now a director) heard about Hanks performance and after seeing it decided to give Hanks a starring role in the film Splash. It was hit and lead to him getting starring parts in movies. He was a few years removed from a notorious flop-The Bonfire of the Vanities. The film he had done before this had been a hit (League of Their Own-1992) so his career was in an uptick. The plot of the film is "Sam Baldwin, a Chicago architect, loses his wife Maggie to cancer. He and his young son Jonah start anew in Seattle, Washington, but Sam continues to grieve. A year and a half later, on Christmas Eve 1992, Jonah—who wants his father to find a new wife—calls in to a radio talk show. Jonah persuades Sam to go on the air to talk about how much he misses Maggie. Hundreds of women from around the country who hear the program and are touched by the story, write to Sam." One of the women who listens to the program is Anne Wilson a reporter for the Baltimore Sun and she is the woman that audiences get to know as she falls for Sam and tries to figure out to meet him.  How 90's is using talk radio as major plot point? Also why someone who is grieving the loss of a spouse would move to Seattle  (the suicide capital of the U.S.) is beyond me. As I mentioned earlier this storyline is ok and that's because almost everyone in it is trying so hard. There's a really touching scene when a co-worker of Sam's gives him the business card for his shriek so Sam can call the shriek. Sam gets angry and shows the co-worker that he has lots of these types of cards. There are two characters in this part of the movie that are really good. One is Rob Reiner who is really amusing as a friend of Tom Hanks character who tries to help his character get used to what its like to date in the 90's. The other is Gaby Hoffman as Jessica the friend of Jonah (the son of Tom Hanks character). She is very believable as this character and is the best character in this part of the movie.  This problem with the Tom Hanks part of the movie really amplifies just how superior the Meg Ryan part of the movie is. Everyone in this section of the movie is believable. Meg Ryan comes across as a likeable person who has gotten their dream job (she's a reporter for the Baltimore Sun) who wants more out of her personal life. She is engaged but its to that stock character in romantic movies of the person who is allergic to everything. Considering how annoying these characters usually are its surprising that Bill Pullman who plays the part really isn't. Fortunately for him better times were around the corner as he would later get the girl in While You were Sleeping (1995) and he would help save the world in the monster hit Independence Day (1996). Also in a bit of good times are ahead foreshadowing is David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) who plays the brother of Meg Ryan who gives her advice on life! A real standout as far as likeable character in this part of the movie is Rosie O'Donnell who has the best line the movie. She works with Meg Ryan at the newspaper and the 2 of them along with 2 male co-workers are talking. One of the male co-workers says " It's easier to be killed by a terrorist than it is to find a husband over the age of 40!" Meg Ryan says that its not true and that there was a book written on how that wasn't true and asks the the male co-workers had read that book. One of then ask had anyone read that book. Rosie O'Donnell character then says "That's right it's not true, but it feels true." Rosie O'Donnell if she had stuck on this track probably would have a very good career as a character actress and it would have been interesting to see if the controversy that has surrounded her would be as big as it is if she had stayed an actress. This movie was one of the first to really embrace pop culture. The pop culture item it really embraced was the Cary Grant film "An Affair to Remember." Both Meg Ryan and Rosie O'Donnell characters are seen crying over the movie in their section of the movie and in the Tom Hanks section of the movie a friend of his wife (Rita Wilson-Mrs. Tom Hanks in real life) is seen crying over the movie. There's comparison between women liking this movie and men liking the Dirty Dozen that at the time seemed like big deal but isn't now. "An Affair to Remember" would go onto to hurt the film because its climax (2 people agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building) would be how this movie would end but with a twist. The twist is that Jonah (Tom Hanks character's son) receives a letter from Anne in which she mentions meeting there. He sends her letter (which Anne believes is from his Dad) agreeing to this. Thanks to his friend Jessica (whose Mom works at a Travel Agency) he goes there.This could never happen now and it was a problem then. When Sam and Anne do meet at the top of the Empire State Building (with Jonah in attendance) it is pretty magical.  This movie do good with the critics (71% per Rotten Tomatoes) and with the general public (it grossed $227 million).  The film has a great soundtrack that was a wonderful collection of pop standards that was a mixture of singers from the 40's to the 90's. It was beautifully shot by one of the great cinematographers of all-time (Sven Nykvist) who was a multiple Oscar winner best known for the films he did with Ingmar Bergman. This film was a real highlight for its director Nora Ephron who had one of the most interesting lives of anyone who has ever worked in film. "Sleepless in Seattle" is one of the best examples of why its genre-romantic comedies-should still be one of the more popular film genres. Perhaps it will become popular again.