Sleepless in Seattle: I was away this past week and didn’t watch many shows nor movies. However before leaving I had re-watched this 1993 film with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. First of all, it was good to see Meg Ryan again, as I had remembered her. She and Tom Hanks had good chemistry, and although she was never supermodel hot, she was always attractive and funny. She was cute.
The story I was amazed to find mirrored many aspects of a movie like Serendipity, with Kate Beckensale and John Cusack. An engaged person is not so sure that they are marrying “the One” but have just gone along with it at this point. They are introduced to a stranger and seek them out to an extent which appears a little extreme. In Sleepless it is over the radio with Annie (played by Meg Ryan) listening to a young boy Jonah (played by the delightful Ross Malinger) call a syndicated radio program making a pitch for his Dad (played by Hanks) to find a new wife, as his wife had died earlier from cancer. Jonah wants to find a new Mom.
Annie is a writer and she hears this story. She shares with friend, played by Rosie O’Donnell and her fiance (played by Bill Pullman). She decides she wants to write a story about this boy, as it has gotten some media attention since it first aired. Meanwhile, Hanks is not pleased that his son called a radio program, and gave their address on the show, in order to try and help him find a new relationship. His touching question to Jonah is “aren’t we doing okay?”. The mail starts to roll in, and Hanks and Jonah are reading responses to Jonah’s situation. Jonah likes a letter from Annie. Hanks decides he wants to avoid long distances (Annie is from Baltimore, while they live in Seattle). He meets another woman and they begin dating. Eventually Jonah takes things into his own hands as he wants to force his Dad to meet Annie at the Empire State Building in NYC on Valentine’s Day. This mirrors one of the original rom-com’s from 1957 An Affair to Remember, with Cary Grant, later re-done with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening in 1994 called Love Affair.
For me, one of the challenges in such movies is that the partners of the two romantic interests are simply not attractive in actions or in looks. Why is this the case? Why can’t those partners be just people that aren’t a fit for those others? Bill Pullman has eating and sleeping issues, and is generally too geeky for a woman like Meg Ryan. The audience isn’t surprised that she is seeking out someone who just sounds nice. I will admit that I think that Jonah and his sarcasm with Dad’s girlfriend, with the horrible laugh, is polite but just oozes with contempt. Should Dad be introducing this woman to Jonah so early in the relationship? One would suggest now in 2025 that the answer is likely no. However for the time, Dad may feel that his son is his only family, and that he wants to see if Jonah gets along with someone he is dating. These are not easy choices. But despite any challenges, this is still a delightful movie. Hanks and Ryan, despite very little time on screen together, have good chemistry and they are likeable actors. So this is a good rom-com and has likeable characters. It was worth the time to visit, for the first time or a repeat after a long while.
Alien Earth: Alison shared a trailor for a new series on FX in August. From what I can tell, it is based upon Alien, or the Alien world which has had numerous storylines. Alien was released in 1979. Ridley Scott was the director. There were eight more Alien-related movies to come with varying level of success. The latest one Alien Romulus was reviewed by me last year, and I was not a fan. I find that there hasn’t been enough new ideas in the alien world. Prometheus and Alien Covenant I liked more than Romulus. I am not really sure what to make of this attached but I will leave that for the viewer to decide.
Mondays With Robbie 