You've Got Mail

1998 "Someone you pass on the street may already be the love of your life."
6.7| 1h59m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 18 December 1998 Released
Producted By: Warner Bros. Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://youvegotmail.warnerbros.com
Synopsis

Book superstore magnate, Joe Fox and independent book shop owner, Kathleen Kelly fall in love in the anonymity of the Internet—both blissfully unaware that he's trying to put her out of business.

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Reviews

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Pjtaylor-96-138044 'You've Got Mail (1998)' isn't as dated as you might think, and, if it is, it is actually dated mostly in the areas you wouldn't suspect. It brings the internet into a timeless tale of pen-pal love, a combination which has become all the more relevant in today's 'online dating' society. Where it falters slightly is in its attempts to merge this 'A-plot', which essentially becomes a 'B-plot' for most of the piece, with a secondary narrative concerning competing book-stores and the tendency for big-business to swallow family-practices whole. It's only because this takes precedent over the 'mail' aspect, and indeed the romance, for most of the piece that the narrative seems slightly confused and baggy, with a length far to long for what the endeavour hopes to achieve. It also detracts from itself because this story was never the focus and so its quick, and arguably unsatisfying, conclusion doesn't do justice to the new emphasis placed upon it. Still, when the screen-time is shifted back to the main couple and their 'will they, won't they' dynamic - which is nicely justified by Hanks' character essentially being two people, the flick finds its feet again. It manages to do a lot with quite a little. The use of dramatic irony is rather inspired and, actually, fairly unique. From the very opening, we are let into a secret that neither of our heroes know and the rest of the picture is spent teasing us with the possibility of them finding out. It is fantastically frustrating, a wonderfully considered approach that makes each encounter - and the deteriorating nature of their in-person relationship - a devilish delight. We essentially know how the film will finish from the first frame, but it does everything it can to put that end-goal as far from sight as possible. This, and the continuing need for dramatic irony on account of at least one character, creates one of the only real problems with the picture. While Hanks' character's motivation is initially sound, once he continues to allow this dramatic irony to go on he basically slips from sympathetic to sociopath, toying with this poor woman's emotions to get what he wants - even if it is out of genuine emotional connection. It's not as bad as it sounds, perhaps, but it is bad enough that it's the real reason the two should be at odds and should certainly lead to a very different outcome. Overall, this is an enjoyable romantic-comedy, though. It conforms to convention but does just enough with the tools of the trade and the charisma of the characters (or, more accurately, the actors) to remain interesting throughout. 6/10
s 25 Harry (In harry met sally)Don't you love me anymore ? Words are still hanging in the air like a cartoon. She says she never really loved me anymore. Now I start getting suspicious.Mr. Zero knew about my divorce one week before I did. "I got married because it's forever. You don't have to go out and pretend you're having a good time anymore."People's rating (10/10) :BEST EVER ROMANTIC COMEDYKathleen (You've got mail):Dumps Frank and goes after Fox. Fox does the same. People's rating (10/10) :BEST EVER ROMANTIC COMEDYScreenplay for both the movies : NORA EPHRONGo Figure !!!!
k_l_b_937 I love Tom Hanks, and these old 90's rom-coms were so great, I love so many of them, like " While You Were Sleeping" and "Return to Me" ( right at the end of the 90's). For some reason, I hadn't seen this fully until my 20's. I thought " this should be sweet, endearing and a mainstay for me for years to come. I'm not sure if my thinking was right.... it started and about 10 minutes in I was very very bored, the pace just hadn't taken off.. so I gave it more time, and more time... to try and find anything funny, or that would make me want to keep watching and nothing. I found myself actually looking away, opening other tabs on my computer, scrolling my phone, and eventually I skipped parts until I could find something interesting. I did try to catch the end to say I'd seen it, and I wanted it to be lovable, it just wasn't there. Maybe if I had watched this when I was younger or had a special, nostalgic connection with it, I would think more of it, it just feel SO SLOW to me.
Greg Bern Unlike "84 Charing Cross Road" the writing (of letters) is largely incidental, and the real plot is 'will they get it together?' This of course means there is no suspense since in movies of this type the couple always gets it together. And so it is. This is apparently a remake of some earlier Hollywood hit and follows the romantic comedy formula perfectly, even down to the protagonists' compulsory best friends.The script is by Norah Ephron, and she does raise a laugh on occasion. When Tom Hanks introduces the children he is with to Meg Ryan, it turns out the 7 year old girl is his aunt and the 9 year old is his brother, the products of late second marriages by his father and grandfather (both still alive). "A typical American family" says Tom. I hope not - Dad and Grandad are pretty ruthless people. Recommended? Well, saw this one as an in-flight movie, so it was free. It could have been worse.