Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Directed by Nora Ephron. Starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger, Bill Pullman, Rob Reiner, Rosie O’Donnell, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, Gaby Hoffman, Barbara Garrick, Carey Lowell, David Hyde Pierce. [PG]

Chicago widower Hanks opens up at length about missing his late wife during a call-in to a radio show on Christmas Eve, which is heard by unhappily-engaged Ryan some two thousand miles away in Seattle, and here come the usual rom-com plot contrivances, right on time. The stars are likable, as expected, and there are a few funny lines and moments (e.g., Hanks and Garber mocking tears while recalling The Dirty Dozen), but the hoary coincidences are too abundant to swallow, far too much of the patter and “insight” churns the stomach, and its foundation is too rickety to support these shenanigans in the first place—only the most unprincipled romantics in the world could decide that these near-complete strangers are actually “soulmates” by the end. Repeatedly references the Cary Grant-Deborah Kerr weepie An Affair to Remember, which is fitting since that picture’s over-sincere tone is precisely what these architects were trying to capture while penning the prefabrication instructions. The only thing more ludicrous than Ephron, Jeff Arch, and David S. Ward’s screenplay getting an Oscar nod for an original script is that it was nominated at all. Later developed into a stage musical.

40/100