Tom & Meg, Yet Again: Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

There was one more rom-com I had heard of many times and had never seen. Sleepless in Seattle is yet another Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie where the who fall hopelessly in love. Well, kind of. I'll get to that in the body. As a recap for those who haven't read my previous Tom & Meg reviews, I thought Joe versus the Volcano was nice, but I really liked You've Got Mail. Meg Ryan was also in When Harry Met Sally, but that wasn't with Tom, but it was another rom-com I liked her in, and it's very similar in tone to this kind of thing. So have I become tired of Meg falling for Tom and Tom falling for Meg? Or does this rightfully hold its title as a great rom-com?


Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) has just lost his wife to an illness. He's left now as a single father raising an 8-year-old son named Jonah (Ross Malinger). As Christmas time hits a year and a half after losing his wife, his son is concerned for his father who seems perpetually depressed. Jonah seeks help in a radio talk show, and tricks his father into taking the call and talking to the on-air doctor. This ends up sending Sam's story of loss across the country, and among the many women who hear his tale, Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) is among them. She can't get Sam out of her mind, which shouldn't be a big deal, except she's already engaged. Her husband-to-be, Walter (Bill Pullman), is a good guy, but she's never felt that "magic touch" that her mother and so many others talk about. Should she risk it all for a chance at destiny, or is she just kidding herself about it? In the meantime, will Sam end up meeting someone else before she can meet him?

Jonah's Christmas wish is for his dad to find a new wife

Yet another Christmas movie without even planning for it! Well, I guess all the Christmas stuff is just at the start, so maybe it doesn't count. At any rate, this movie is all about fate, and destiny, and grand ideas that you "just know" when a person is "the one" for you. There's a lot of talk about hands touching and feeling perfect and several mentions of "magic". This may all seem like it's a bit too mushy for a guy to take, but somehow it doesn't end up quite as bad as it sounds. There's actually a funny scene where Sam and his friend Greg (Victor Garber) mock Greg's wife for getting overly emotional and swept up while she describes just that kind of thing when talking about An Affair to Remember. It's also mentioned that "guys just don't get this movie." On that I'd probably have to agree.

Thankfully there's enough comedy and father/son bonding that the whole movie isn't just about magic touches and fated meetings at sunset. The comedy isn't really the laugh-out-loud kind, but it will generally put a smile on your face. There was an amusing running joke of nearly every single female in the movie completely falling in love with An Affair to Remember. I know I already brought it up, but the reference comes up several times throughout Sleepless in Seattle, and I thought it was funny. Another thing I was greatly thankful for was that the kid, Ross Malinger, wasn't an annoying kid or a bad child actor. He came across as a totally regular, realistic little boy, just as he should. That's not to say that this was a perfect film, or even a perfect rom-com. Unfortunately it just didn't quite hit all the right beats for me.

Annie and her friend watch An Affair to Remember

I'm not sure what it was that made the film not sink it's teeth into me. It could be that Annie and Sam keep having those annoying "near misses" that happen in this kind of romance so much. They either meet and don't realize who they're looking at, or one leaves a location just as the other enters. It was starting to become really frustrating, and honestly, annoying. For nearly the entire film, they are separated in their own lives, and their own worlds, humming and hawing over what they should do and who they should spend time with. Actually, it's mostly Annie that does that, while Sam tries to just date other people, while his son continues to insist he check out this other "Annie" person who sent a letter.

FINALLY!

While it wasn't the best rom-com I'd ever seen, Sleepless in Seattle was still quite good. I largely give the credit to Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan for holding it up almost on their own as the rest of the movie is merely alright. Out of all the movies that feature these two together, I think I liked You've Got Mail the most, but that makes sense as that is the third film they made together, so their chemistry simply had more time to build. I also think I prefer Meg Ryan's performance in When Harry Met Sally to this, but again, I think "Mail" beats them both. Now I'm just wondering if I should seek out this An Affair to Remember film or not. But as Tom Hanks put it, it "sounds like a real chick movie." Besides, I have plenty of other movies to get to in the meantime.