“Because on the one hand, angling yourself like this toward the total stranger sitting next to you is psychotic. (Like, JUST FUCKING FACE FORWARD, dude.)”
I fly every few months for work and since these are usually short-ish flights between the Midwest and the East Coast early in the morning on weekdays, I am almost always seated next to other middle-aged business guys and, yes, I face forward.
But if on one of these flights I were seated next to the 2026 equivalent of Meg Ryan in 1989 I would have no choice but to angle toward her. I wouldn’t WANT to do it, just like this guy probably doesn’t WANT to do it and just like a plant doesn’t WANT to angle itself toward the sun. But it is what it is, man, you can’t put something that bright and warm out there and expect that it won’t affect everything else in the vicinity.
This is the single movie I've watched the most in my life, my wife's and my origin story movie from late 1992, and we've watched it every New Year since, from the age Harry and Sally are when they leave Chicago to, well, much older now. We know it by heart, we know every line, we know and laugh at every detail - Sally's disgusted face on the plane when Harry does the fist-pump gesture asking if they'd done it in college; the detail that Harry's face is still red from the slap when they head back into the reception; the detail that Sally, and never Harry, drops the F-bomb (twice!). We quote it every chance we get (no matter the time of day, if the phone rings one of us will say "Nobody I know would call at this hour").
"If you ever wanna make a writer immediately fall in love with you, all you have to do is quote their work to a table of people. It’s that easy. You could get a writer to snap a bear trap closed on their own head if you said their work “moved” you first."
I had someone unknowingly quote an essay I wrote about the Fast & Furious franchise back to me once, and I can confirm that (1) it is entirely intoxicating, and (2) I would absolutely kill for this man now
this may be apocryphal, but i read that billy crystal ad libbed the paprikash-pecan pie in the funny voice thing. in the scene when meg ryan turns her head to the right, she was looking to rob reiner about what to do and apparently he nodded to her to keep going with the improv. just the freaking best.
I saw an interview where Billy Crystal talked about that exact thing. It somehow makes the moment even better than if it'd have been written out ahead of time.
Boy howdy, this is a perfect movie. This movie clocks in at 1h36m and it's fully formed, complete and not a single moment is wasted or drags. The soundtrack?? Harry Connick, Jr.!! This was the definitive "Don't you just love New York in the fall?" years before You've Got Mail.
I miss Carrie, Bruno, Rob and Nora. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
I went and watched a bunch of old Harry Connick Jr. videos because I remembered hating him from when I was in high school because I girl I liked had a crush on him but as soon as the videos started playing and saw him I was like, "Oh, okay. I get it. Yeah, she was right. He's very hot," lol. He's like if Michael Buble was cool.
Came here to say this - the run time is perfect, not a wasted moment, every scene does exactly what it needs to do with wit and charm and then cuts. The double-date restaurant scene is so great* and moves the plot along, and runs only two minutes.
(*This exchange just kills me every time: "Well let's just say I'm not really a big fan of Jimmy Breslin" / "He's the reason I became a writer, but that's not important")
This made me unbelievably happy. I’m gonna watch the movie today. It’s been a while since I have. Also, thank you for being a person who doesn’t lean their seat back on airplanes. The seat leaners are among the worst people in the world. They make their life approximately 2.5% better so that somebody else’s life will be approximately 63% worse. Imagine being so devoted to your own comfort that nobody else matters. At best, that’s malignant narcissism. At worst, that’s sociopathy. And, also, what kind of horrific people keep their seats leaned back after food has been served? That’s serial killer psychopathy. That’s Ted Bundy seat leaning. Just watch what happens here if somebody tries to defend seat leaners—if somebody tries to justify seat leaning. Study their language. It’s the same logic that Custer employed when he raided Indian villages and killed unarmed old people, men, women, and children. And you know what happened to Custer, right? Oh, yeah, he fucked around and found out. Now, Dear Seat Leaners, I’m not threatening you but remember this: The next time you’re on an airplane and you’re thinking about leaning your seat back, be forewarned that Crazy Horse and 1,000 other Sioux warriors might be sitting behind you.
Is this our only Bruno Kirby so far? Being young Clemenza with THAT SHOT from The Godfather II and being in this and City Slickers both is so fun for me.
Okay Shea, but what if you’re on a plane seated directly between Pop and Manu?
Does Plane Ninja still apply, or do you turn into William Miller at the end of Almost Famous and quietly slide a recorder onto the tray table like, “So… what do you love about basketball?”
_____
17:39: P.P.S. My Airplane Behavior Policy is as such: I don’t eat anything, I don’t take my shoes off, I don’t put my feet anywhere other than on the floor directly in front of me, I don’t make any noise, I don’t try to start a conversation with anyone, I don’t recline my seat, and I don’t get up unless it’s absolutely necessary. I’m a plane ninja. My whole goal is for you to never even know that I’m there.
I only recently (within the last few years) watched When Harry Met Sally for the first time. Holds up so well.
On Scrubs, I loved it when Carla's brother tricked Turk into making the famous WHMS speech for his rehearsal dinner. That was so funny.
"Rob asked Nora to change it because he met and fell in love with the woman he’d eventually marry while he was working on When Harry Met Sally. 🥹 🥹 🥹 🥹"
I knew this and it still made me cry. RIP to a beautiful couple.
I was so obsessed with this movie in high school that I stayed in love with my junior year crush for years believing that we were destined to fall in love on a crisp fall day New York. Ironically, we never dated at all and instead became extremely good friends. Anyway, one million out of ten, there will never be a rom-com better.
How cool is Carrie Fisher? She wrote a book about herself and her mom, and got MERYL FUCKING STREEP to play her when it was made into a movie. That's Ninja-level cool.
Shea, I like this "70 seconds from any movie" idea...here's my nomination from Ocean's 11, Tess and Danny sparring when he reveals to her he's in town to win her back:
"I don't have a husband...or didn't you get the papers?"
I thought I was going to have a 6000 word comment to leave, but yeah, you covered everything I love about the movie, including the alchemy of hitting just the right tone about Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal's chemistry (too many rom coms have characters hate each other so much that it's unbelievable that they would ever get together and you're almost rooting against them, or have immediate chemistry that has an unrealistic monkey wrench thrown into the plot to derail them for a bit, whereas this is just about them needing to get to some emotional maturity), populating the movie with hilarious side characters (I actually love Bruno Kirby's character, but Carrie Fisher is a total scene stealer) and works those interstitials in without it seeming too gimmicky (your favorite is one of my favorites because they're constantly talking over each other, a classic elderly couple move that I encounter all the time in my job).
Also, this is the first thing I've read about Larami that makes me sad... I refuse to believe she hates Fury Road!
“Because on the one hand, angling yourself like this toward the total stranger sitting next to you is psychotic. (Like, JUST FUCKING FACE FORWARD, dude.)”
I fly every few months for work and since these are usually short-ish flights between the Midwest and the East Coast early in the morning on weekdays, I am almost always seated next to other middle-aged business guys and, yes, I face forward.
But if on one of these flights I were seated next to the 2026 equivalent of Meg Ryan in 1989 I would have no choice but to angle toward her. I wouldn’t WANT to do it, just like this guy probably doesn’t WANT to do it and just like a plant doesn’t WANT to angle itself toward the sun. But it is what it is, man, you can’t put something that bright and warm out there and expect that it won’t affect everything else in the vicinity.
Plants definitely want to angle themselves toward the sun. That's their whole thing.
... you win this round, Serrano.
Perfectly said!
!!!
This is the single movie I've watched the most in my life, my wife's and my origin story movie from late 1992, and we've watched it every New Year since, from the age Harry and Sally are when they leave Chicago to, well, much older now. We know it by heart, we know every line, we know and laugh at every detail - Sally's disgusted face on the plane when Harry does the fist-pump gesture asking if they'd done it in college; the detail that Harry's face is still red from the slap when they head back into the reception; the detail that Sally, and never Harry, drops the F-bomb (twice!). We quote it every chance we get (no matter the time of day, if the phone rings one of us will say "Nobody I know would call at this hour").
All-timer movie, great essay, thanks Shea!
"Nobody I know would call at this hour" is always a funny thing to say whenever your phone rings. I'm very happy that's a tradition y'all have.
Thank you for the comment! Love to you and your wife.
"If you ever wanna make a writer immediately fall in love with you, all you have to do is quote their work to a table of people. It’s that easy. You could get a writer to snap a bear trap closed on their own head if you said their work “moved” you first."
I had someone unknowingly quote an essay I wrote about the Fast & Furious franchise back to me once, and I can confirm that (1) it is entirely intoxicating, and (2) I would absolutely kill for this man now
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this may be apocryphal, but i read that billy crystal ad libbed the paprikash-pecan pie in the funny voice thing. in the scene when meg ryan turns her head to the right, she was looking to rob reiner about what to do and apparently he nodded to her to keep going with the improv. just the freaking best.
great movie.
I saw an interview where Billy Crystal talked about that exact thing. It somehow makes the moment even better than if it'd have been written out ahead of time.
this is true, and it's one of my favourite moments in Meg Ryan's career because you see her immediately lock in and have fun. It's lovely.
Carved herself permanently on the Rom-Com Mount Rushmore in that moment.
Boy howdy, this is a perfect movie. This movie clocks in at 1h36m and it's fully formed, complete and not a single moment is wasted or drags. The soundtrack?? Harry Connick, Jr.!! This was the definitive "Don't you just love New York in the fall?" years before You've Got Mail.
I miss Carrie, Bruno, Rob and Nora. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
I went and watched a bunch of old Harry Connick Jr. videos because I remembered hating him from when I was in high school because I girl I liked had a crush on him but as soon as the videos started playing and saw him I was like, "Oh, okay. I get it. Yeah, she was right. He's very hot," lol. He's like if Michael Buble was cool.
Came here to say this - the run time is perfect, not a wasted moment, every scene does exactly what it needs to do with wit and charm and then cuts. The double-date restaurant scene is so great* and moves the plot along, and runs only two minutes.
(*This exchange just kills me every time: "Well let's just say I'm not really a big fan of Jimmy Breslin" / "He's the reason I became a writer, but that's not important")
Bruno is so fucking funny.
He nails every scene in this film
This made me unbelievably happy. I’m gonna watch the movie today. It’s been a while since I have. Also, thank you for being a person who doesn’t lean their seat back on airplanes. The seat leaners are among the worst people in the world. They make their life approximately 2.5% better so that somebody else’s life will be approximately 63% worse. Imagine being so devoted to your own comfort that nobody else matters. At best, that’s malignant narcissism. At worst, that’s sociopathy. And, also, what kind of horrific people keep their seats leaned back after food has been served? That’s serial killer psychopathy. That’s Ted Bundy seat leaning. Just watch what happens here if somebody tries to defend seat leaners—if somebody tries to justify seat leaning. Study their language. It’s the same logic that Custer employed when he raided Indian villages and killed unarmed old people, men, women, and children. And you know what happened to Custer, right? Oh, yeah, he fucked around and found out. Now, Dear Seat Leaners, I’m not threatening you but remember this: The next time you’re on an airplane and you’re thinking about leaning your seat back, be forewarned that Crazy Horse and 1,000 other Sioux warriors might be sitting behind you.
I don't know that anyone has ever hated seat leaners as much as Sherman Alexie.
Yeah, you two should definitely know each other.
Hahahahaha
This is amazing, and I will be thinking of it tomorrow morning when the person in front of me reclines their seat.
Rob Reiner joins the two timers club directors club
Steven Ford (Armageddon), Connie Sawyer (Something’s Gotta Give) and Tracy Reiner (Pretty Woman) join the two-timers club
You're like GOOD MOVIE's version of the bookworm guy from Toy Story 3, lol.
Is this our only Bruno Kirby so far? Being young Clemenza with THAT SHOT from The Godfather II and being in this and City Slickers both is so fun for me.
It's his first appearance, yeah. I'm super not looking forward to when we cover The Basketball Diaries in year 5 or whatever.
Not sure if this link will work, but here are the stats for all the GOOD MOVIE movies so far: https://letterboxd.com/williamsc108/list/shea-serranos-good-movie/stats/
It only works for people with the fancy Letterboxd account.
Damn!! Well, a list will suffice, considering where we are, after all.
Most Watched Actors
Denzel - 5
John C. McGinley - 4
Leo - 3
Affleck - 3
Will Patton - 3
Most Watched Directors
Nolan, Tarantino, Spielberg, Fincher, Reiner, Lee Unkrich, Bay all tied at 2
🔥
Mark Falvo erasure! Only an uncredited actor, but he's appeared in 6 Good Movies so far
There are a few others as well, but for names we'd all recognize the above list is pretty spot on. Just need to Denzel Whitaker with 3 appearances.
Finding out all the interstitial couples are actors and not actual couples blew my mind harder than the end of Usual Suspects.
Why would you type this out for the world to see? Thom Wong you are a horrible person.
hahaha
Me too! I was certain they were real couples, lol.
Reading this essay gave me all the emotional feels of the movie itself. Beautiful work!
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shea, you can close the bear trap now.
lol
Okay Shea, but what if you’re on a plane seated directly between Pop and Manu?
Does Plane Ninja still apply, or do you turn into William Miller at the end of Almost Famous and quietly slide a recorder onto the tray table like, “So… what do you love about basketball?”
_____
17:39: P.P.S. My Airplane Behavior Policy is as such: I don’t eat anything, I don’t take my shoes off, I don’t put my feet anywhere other than on the floor directly in front of me, I don’t make any noise, I don’t try to start a conversation with anyone, I don’t recline my seat, and I don’t get up unless it’s absolutely necessary. I’m a plane ninja. My whole goal is for you to never even know that I’m there.
I wouldn't say one single word. I'd spend time sitting there trying to cover my erection.
I only recently (within the last few years) watched When Harry Met Sally for the first time. Holds up so well.
On Scrubs, I loved it when Carla's brother tricked Turk into making the famous WHMS speech for his rehearsal dinner. That was so funny.
"Rob asked Nora to change it because he met and fell in love with the woman he’d eventually marry while he was working on When Harry Met Sally. 🥹 🥹 🥹 🥹"
I knew this and it still made me cry. RIP to a beautiful couple.
😭
I was so obsessed with this movie in high school that I stayed in love with my junior year crush for years believing that we were destined to fall in love on a crisp fall day New York. Ironically, we never dated at all and instead became extremely good friends. Anyway, one million out of ten, there will never be a rom-com better.
Did you ever say anything to him about it?
1:10:53 Aaaaaaaand Harry meats Sally. It was right there, dude.
😂😂😂😂😂
How cool is Carrie Fisher? She wrote a book about herself and her mom, and got MERYL FUCKING STREEP to play her when it was made into a movie. That's Ninja-level cool.
Shea, I like this "70 seconds from any movie" idea...here's my nomination from Ocean's 11, Tess and Danny sparring when he reveals to her he's in town to win her back:
"I don't have a husband...or didn't you get the papers?"
"My last day inside."
"I told you I'd write."
https://youtu.be/SMX29KN9Uqs?t=9
A great scene, but for sure falls short to the MEN AND WOMEN CAN'T BE FRIENDS conversation here.
Blake, come on, you've GOT to go with
"Does he make you laugh?"
"He doesn't make me cry."
from the Danny/Tess scene here.
(It still doesn't top "Men and women can't be friends," but still.)
I thought I was going to have a 6000 word comment to leave, but yeah, you covered everything I love about the movie, including the alchemy of hitting just the right tone about Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal's chemistry (too many rom coms have characters hate each other so much that it's unbelievable that they would ever get together and you're almost rooting against them, or have immediate chemistry that has an unrealistic monkey wrench thrown into the plot to derail them for a bit, whereas this is just about them needing to get to some emotional maturity), populating the movie with hilarious side characters (I actually love Bruno Kirby's character, but Carrie Fisher is a total scene stealer) and works those interstitials in without it seeming too gimmicky (your favorite is one of my favorites because they're constantly talking over each other, a classic elderly couple move that I encounter all the time in my job).
Also, this is the first thing I've read about Larami that makes me sad... I refuse to believe she hates Fury Road!
I was CERTAIN she was gonna love it. But nope. If I remember correctly, she actually went to sleep for a portion of it.
well to quote the movie you referenced in Footnotes, I guess: "nobody's perfect."
Sadly, I have learned that my idol has feet of clay. How can a woman of such obvious taste be so misguided?