In the 1980s and 1990s, writer-director Nora Ephron was the queen of the romantic comedy: When Harry met Sally, sleepless in Seattle and You've got mail They were huge films both commercially and culturally. You've got mail gather the Sleepless duo of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, featuring them as rival bookstore owners who can't stand each other in real life but fall in love anonymously online. If you were around at the time, the computer stuff will make you feel absolutely old (and if you weren't, it can be a little disconcerting), but the film itself has aged well and remains one of the great rom-coms of the film. 1990s – and makes for a great weekend watch among the Netflix library.
You've Got Mail Has a Star-Studded Cast and Some Killer Lines
Rewatching the film after 25 years, The Cut had some thoughts: “In 1998, it was still a bit radical to meet your partner on the Internet, especially in a chat room, but today, rewatching You've got mail, what we really noticed that seems almost unrecognizable is the Upper West Side, the price of apartments (of course) throughout the city, and the reputation of Barnes & Noble.” And Cosmopolitan was surprised by how many familiar faces appear in it : “Dave Chappelle as Hanks' funny friend? Steve Zahn as Ryan's co-worker? “Chris Messina as a bookstore employee?”
Entertainment Weekly summed it up five years earlier, noting that the film was inevitable after Sleepless in Seattle “grossed $126 million domestically, helped establish Nora Ephron as Hollywood's most formidable filmmaker, and sealed Hanks and Ryan's reputation as the must-see combination of the '90s.” The duo were “the Tracy and Hepburn of their time. The cutest couple on the big screen today,” and Mail was “Ephron's most slick and polished film to date.”
As Empire put it: “You've got mail attempts to imbue cold '90s technology with a warm fuzziness reserved for kids and kittens. And, despite a very worn-out formula, it works. A bit.”
