We Recommend: A Movie Podcast
We Recommend is a movie podcast where every week Jesse and Jason discuss a movie that they love and recommend you to watch and then come back and listen to their podcast!
We Recommend: A Movie Podcast
When Harry Met Sally...
Happy New Year's! Listen to us discuss the birth of the modern Rom-Com. With Rob Reiner's excellent directing and Nora Ephron's ability to translate her personal life to film, they create Jesse's favorite Rom-Com!
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Music produced by Joey Prosser. X @mrjoeyprosser
Hello and welcome to the We Recommend Podcast, a movie podcast where every week we recommend a movie for you to watch, and then come back here and listen to us discuss. I'm Jesse. I'm Jason. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. Cause this week we recommend When Harry Met Sally. Fine? Go fuck yourself out. You're a bad person, you need to get out of here. Everyone's upset. People are driving into trees. People are driving to the beach straight into the ocean.
SPEAKER_01:It was entertaining. But um what you're competing about. Billy Crystal.
SPEAKER_00:I knew you were gonna say something about Billy Crystal.
SPEAKER_01:I love Billy Crystal. I just feel like he should be looking for a cowboy gold. Oh, yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_00:That's his second best movie after this one. I love Billy Crystal. I only really know him from this movie in City Slickers and always hosting the Oscars. But something about him, man, I just I love Billy Crystal. Yeah. It's his way he talks. He's very quippy. I love a quippy ass boy.
SPEAKER_01:I think to put a dollar in the ass jar, Jesse. We have to have an ass jar at home.
unknown:What?
SPEAKER_01:Do we say ass all the time? Oh, so you just do ash jars? Uh that's weird. Sounds like the only cuss word y'all use is ass. Well, it's just the most used.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Okay. So this is um this movie. Um, what is special about it is the fact that this was the this is the rom com that modernized all rom coms.
SPEAKER_01:For real.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So this was like, after this movie came out, and like the reason it's like, oh, this seems like most rom coms. It's got everything that most rom coms have now. Well, that's because this is the one that kind of started it. It was like Nora Efron and Rob Reiner were like, hey, here's how love is supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01:And that's how it is. Men and women can't be friends. Yes, they can.
SPEAKER_00:We're in love. Yeah. I mean. So what do you think about that? Like, what do you think about the uh idea of that men and women can't be friends?
SPEAKER_01:No, I think it's totally possible. I just think that uh some men like myself are uh not that I can't be friends with women, it's just that I don't think a lot of women find my humor um good funny.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, most women say I'm unfunny and bad at jokes and uninterested to be around because of it. Yeah. Um, I think I'm just kidding. I think you're very funny.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but that's different.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I have I like rom-com, so I'm part woman. I come from a woman. Um so I think that it is obviously possible. I mean, there are people with like with friends with women, but I do think that usually it ends up, you know, something usually ends up like one of them will end up lacking the other one, and it always gets weird. Does, yeah. Um but yeah, because I I don't know, but like I've had plenty of friends that were women, but I've never had like close friends. Yeah, never like a close friend. Like I've never had like a female best friend. Um but I also think that just might be uh based off like personalities and like you know the way everybody's wired.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think that's basically I think that's what I was trying to say. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And uh obviously if like both people find each other very attractive, they can't be friends, and so because it eventually something will happen, right?
SPEAKER_01:I mean Yeah, maybe. Uh I think it is it is possible.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it is possible. It's it's like, come on, guys. But in terms of like movies, you know, it's like very witty, and like that's kind of I think it was just kind of the idea that like, you know, you don't really see often friends that are boy and girl that are like constantly hanging out and getting this close and stuff like that, where they don't have like a drunken knight or something, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Although it it is refreshing to find um a woman that I can talk to about pretend misogyny. That's fun. What? You know, because I pretend to be misogynist. Oh yeah. And like just trying to make people laugh. Yeah. Because it's horrible.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we're gonna say that's pretend.
SPEAKER_01:It is pretend, I dare say.
SPEAKER_00:Uh for a second, let's um let let me go through, let's see, what, that's 1984 to uh let's see, yeah, 1992. I'm gonna tell you the movies that Rob Reiner did, okay? Okay, just from this ban. Um, this is Spinal Tap. Nice. Okay. The sure thing. Haven't seen it. Don't know. Stand by me. Doesn't ring a bell. Okay. Well, it's a fucking amazing movie. It's a Stephen King adaptation. Oh the kids, they find a dead, you want to look you want to see a dead body. Yeah. Um The Princess Bride. So Spinal Tap is 84, Stand By Me is 86, Princess Bride is 87, when Harry Met Sally is 89, 1990 is Misery, and then 1992 is A Few Good Men. Oh, nice. Those are all movies that are important to people. Yeah. It's crazy. He's kind of a big deal. And then he doesn't really do too much after that. Um, but because the movie North ruined his career. Oh, North? Yeah, he did just care.
SPEAKER_01:I still love that movie as a kid.
SPEAKER_00:I've never seen it, but I've only heard negative stuff about it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like it's not good.
SPEAKER_00:But I mean, he essentially, like, if we were gonna rate like on one to ten, like uh like one to ten stars or one to five stars or whatever, it's like all these movies, there's probably somebody, there's probably like a thousand to a million people that say at least one of those movies is a five-star movie. And they're all extremely quotable. This is Spinous Tap. Turn it up to 11. Stand by me, do you want to see a dead body? The Princess Bride, uh, what is it? As you wish, right? When Harry met Sally, um, the line I said at the end, um, misery. I actually don't remember too many quotes from it. I've only seen that one once, but you know, knocking of the knees. And then a few good men. You can't handle the truth. I mean, it's just I've actually never seen a few good men. It's one of those movies that I'm like, I really feel bad that I haven't seen it. And now I feel even more sad.
SPEAKER_01:I've seen that one scene clip, you know, a billion times.
SPEAKER_00:And um, it's funny because WrestleMania like 2021, 22, whichever, they went, they they uh held it in LA. So they did Wrestling Goes Hollywood, and they did like a bunch of scenes, and like the everybody would be like dressed up as the characters and stuff. That's hilarious. Uh yeah, it was great. It was like one of the best things. And they did both A Few Good Men and Um Harry Met Sally.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But it's just like, wow. I mean, out of all the movies, they did two of them for Braun Reiner, and it's just like it's crazy how uh like Natalie told this to me. It's like his movies were my childhood. It's like I've watched all these movies throughout my childhood, and like, you know, everybody fucking loves Princess Bride. It's like, hell yeah. I mean, I don't know. Ever like all these movies are so good. Anybody want a peanut?
SPEAKER_01:Anyone want a peanut?
SPEAKER_00:Is that from Princess Pride? Yes. I've only seen it once. I absolutely loved it, but I've only seen it once. Um, so alright, so let's get back into uh rom coms and stuff. Um, what's your favorite rom com?
SPEAKER_01:Never really been a big rom com fan, but um I think growing up I would watch things like Ten Things I Hate About You. Hell yeah, that's a good one.
SPEAKER_02:Uh I mean you could say could you say that what is it called? Where she goes and becomes a lawyer.
SPEAKER_01:Oh would that be considered a romantic comedy?
SPEAKER_00:I mean a bit, yeah. There's romance and it's a comedy. You're talking about legally blonde.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, legally blonde.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. She's not a lawyer and clueless, dude. She's absolutely clueless in that movie. Yeah. That's when I learned the bend and snap. Bend snap. Oh man, what's her name is so good in it. Jennifer Coolidge. Your outfit makes me want a hot dog real bad. Uh um, honestly, I love rom-coms. I love them. I love people falling in love, and I love the ending when they fall in love again. You know what I hate about rom coms? The part when they break up, it makes me so stressed and sad. I only want movies about good things. My favorite one is something about Mary. Something about Mary? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That is my absolute favorite. It's so cringy and hard.
SPEAKER_00:It hits my heart. It's just like I watch it, I'm like, I just like I it's so bad at cringe, bro. Things that stress me out kill me. Like, that's a movie I watch like between my fingers. So bad.
SPEAKER_01:When he keeps feeding the dog speed through the little treats and he jumps out the window.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Oh, I love uh what's his name though. I'm totally blanking. I'm sorry. My head is scrambled because my dog tried to kill a cat in our backyard, but it did not. And then after I got him to stop doing it, he ate the cat's poop. So it's been a very stressful morning for me. He's just jealous. Yeah, I'm so crazy. Uh what were you saying? I don't know. I gotta do that. I'm so mixed up. Um, oh what, yeah, the guy that's um uh the guy that's in uh something about Mary. I'm gonna have to cut some of this. Something about the bad guys. Yeah, uh Matt Dillon. I fucking love Matt Dylan in that movie. It's so good. Um, but yeah, that movie's great and it's just it's just so stressful for me to watch. Uh but yeah, like I absolutely love rom-coms. It's always those things that kill me. Like, I mean, so Nora Efron wrote this movie, right? Um, she's like a big like whenever you think of rom-com directors and writers, you think of uh Nancy Myers? Yeah, Nancy Myers and Nora Efron, those are like the two big ones. Uh Nancy Myers, she did like The Holiday and movies like that. Um and Nora Efron, she had quite a run herself. So she first she started, she wrote a movie called Heartburn. It was about her own divorce and stuff. Uh, then she wrote When Harry Met Sally, and then Sleepless in Seattle. I don't know if you ever seen Mixed Nuts, it's pretty funny. Um, and then the movie Michael, where uh John Travolta's an angel, it's um it's fine, but then until and then John Travolta dances in it, and you're just like, that guy fucking gets me every time when he dances.
SPEAKER_01:I love that when he challenged the bull. Yeah, that was great.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so good. And then he did uh she did You've Got Male, which is uh just an all-time classic rom-com. Yeah, Tom Hanks. I love that one. Yeah, and like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's both in it, and they're like great rom-com actors. Um, and I love them in this. And then her last um movie was Julia and Julia, which was really funny and good, but uh probably won't watch it again. But um, yeah, Nora Efron, she's kind of like one of the queens of rom-coms. Oh. So um, what did you think of the pairing of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan? This is where I thought you were just gonna be like, why the fuck was she with Billy Crystal?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I don't know. I could it was fine as uh seeing them as friends. Like that was the the best part.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um Meg Ryan's beautiful, she's so funny, dude. Billy Crystal's pretty handsome, except for when he shaves his beard off. I was like, whoa, dude. Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_00:And it's like it's fun to watch older movies when because you know, like now, like every girl's like, you have to have a beard. But like then they're like, I'm glad you shaved your uh beard off. I can actually see your face now. I'm like, that would never be said today. Um, yeah, I'll I think Billy Crystal is just one of those great, like kind of fast talkers that I'm always talking about that I like. He seems like really a smart guy. Yeah, he's so witty in the movie. And Meg Rallon, she does this like like her face, like throughout the movie, just like in between, like when Billy Crystal's talking, she just has like this almost kind of like la la la type of face sometimes, but she's so funny. I love her in this movie. Um yeah, so um what do you think about the term chick flick? Because when I was you know, I was just kind of looking up stuff about the movie, and people are saying, This is more than just a chick flick, and I'm like, It is. But like what what what makes this different from a chick flick then?
SPEAKER_01:I I mean, I think that was just a toxic man thing, right? Call things chick flicks. Yeah. But to me, this isn't as chick-flicky as like before sunset or some bullshit like that.
SPEAKER_00:Well, before sunset's not a chick-flick. Yes, it is. It's a romantic drama. It's horrible. Well, you're the only one that ever thought that. I've never seen it. I don't know why I defend it every time you taught Diss it, but it's just like done by Richard Link later, and it's like it reminded me a lot of this.
SPEAKER_01:It reminded it was like it was like the bad version of this movie.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but isn't like before sunset just sadder? Like more or no, wait. Well, I guess like there that's a trilogy of a movie, and it's like it's like the beginning of the relationship uh before uh before midnight. I don't know. They're all they're all called before something, and the middle one's like when they're together, and then like the I think the last one's like whenever they're apart. So uh I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't know. I've seen two of them. I saw I saw after sunrise or like before is it before people are just like screaming at the radio in their cars.
SPEAKER_00:I was like, shut up, you don't know anything about these.
SPEAKER_01:Those movies just seem like Hallmark, like bad Hallmark movies to me.
SPEAKER_00:I can't wait to watch them so I can yell at you if I think they're doing it.
SPEAKER_01:I probably will. I just not my thing.
SPEAKER_00:Most of everything Richard Link later does. I didn't like boyhood, but you know, I'm like the only one, so I guess I can't get me too mad about it. Um I yeah, I think it is definitely just like a thing, like, oh, we gotta watch people be romantic. But also, I think it's just like dumb people say that though. Sure. Because, you know, I watch a ton of chip clicks, like I think the notebook's pretty good. Yeah, I don't know. It's not bad. It's fine. The old people's stuff, I'm like, I don't need it. Like, I get it. Love traveled, she lost her brains, and then he still loves her, and they think about each other, and then it ends and we all cry. Um, but yeah, I love watching people fall in love. When I watch most anything and I see like, oh, these people got chemistry. Kiss, kiss each other, no matter who they are. Guy, girl, two guys, two girls, I don't care. If I feel like the chemistry is there and they should kiss, I yell kiss. Is it mate? It's just like a little bit of the romantic in me.
SPEAKER_01:That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00:And I think it's just like there's also if you like complain about like, oh, chick flicks, I think there's just a bit of emotional immaturity there. Yeah, I think so. Because uh, you know, life's a chick flick, I guess, you know. That's right. About it. I mean, everybody eventually falls in love. Why not like watch movies about it? Though, like what I like about this one, it's not too sappy. I think that's exactly when people think about like chick flicks, they're like, oh, it's too sappy, it's too much about girls or stuff, right? And this is this has a good perspective between girl and guy, and I think that's what people like about it.
SPEAKER_01:Would you consider Shakespeare and Love? Never seen it. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:When is one or Oscar that way? Yeah, I thought that was okay. Yeah, I haven't seen it. Um, she like dresses, didn't she have like a mustache in it at one point? Because she's it's all about like Shakespeare and stuff like that. I don't remember. The only visual I've ever seen that movie, I thought I was I'm pretty sure like Gwyneth Paltrow's, you know, kind of dressed up like a guy. I don't remember. I can't remember. And I'm always like, what is this movie about?
SPEAKER_01:Maybe I'm not thinking of Shakespeare and Love. Maybe I'm thinking of Shakespeare. Maybe I'm thinking of um with the other one with it is it does have Gwyneth Paltrow and he's an artist.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's Shakespeare and Love. I think that's what you're thinking of. I think it's two different movies. I'm cutting all this one. Alright, um, so what do you like and dislike about rom-coms?
SPEAKER_01:This is our first one, so it's like they can uh they can genuinely be funny and like relationships can be hilarious. And the dumb shit you do when you, you know, when you're in love, uh sometimes it's pretty goddamn funny.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you know, a lot of times in rom-coms, like I love that, like falling in love, being funny, all that's great. It's usually my issue is always with the breakup, because you know, it sucks and I don't want people to break up because you know, it's like I've spent all this movie hoping y'all get together and now you're gonna break up, even though I know they're gonna get back together. But I think my issue with a lot of rom-coms is like the reason for you guys breaking up is stupid. It's like don't have movie brain, have real life brain, but then it has to be a movie. But it's like what I really like about when Harry met Sally is like the reasoning for like them not getting together immediately. Like, you know, it's like, uh, we don't want to ruin this, and then like they do have sex, and then it's like he's like, shit, this is everything I did not want. And I wasn't expecting for this to happen because we've been kind of like like pushing down our feelings, and so it was just like a shock to him, and now he's like going through this like, should I, should I not? Like, what if what if we get together and then we're like out of the relationship in a month? So I thought it was a very this movie has a very good reasoning of why he's like, I'm backing away, I don't want this. Yeah, I thought it was more believable than some of them where it's just like, I saw you walking next to a girl, and I think you're cheating on me. We're breaking up, we're having a stupid conversation. Which is something that I feel like kind of taints most rom coms made after this. Um, but most of like Nancy Myers and Noir Efron's movies and their rom-coms are uh they're pretty smart, which I think is why they became big in the rom-com era. For sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, well, let's do some facts. So the segments of Mary Couple, oh fuck. I love the segments of the Married Couple. That is really like because first time watching it, uh, when I first watched it, I was just like, Oh, all these old people together, you know, like when I first watched it, I think they're like actual real couples, but they're not. So the segments of Mary Couples telling stories of how they met or real stories that director Rob Reiner collected for the film. Then they hired actors to relay their stories. Oh my favorite is the one where like the guy's like telling the story and the girl constantly.
SPEAKER_01:That was good.
SPEAKER_00:I was just like, I swoon at that one, man.
SPEAKER_01:I'm like, oh and he rubbed the elevator up nine more stories. Nine more stories. That was funny because I mean, yeah, that's cute, but like he could just ride it back down. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's not like he It was just an elevator, right? It's not like he walked up nine stairs, nine stories of stairs. I fucking love it though. It's so cute. So um, yeah, let's see. Let me get to my tab.
SPEAKER_01:One of those ladies had wild hair.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:She had like bride of Frankenstein hair. I'm just gonna say, Meg Ryan's hair throughout the film, just like just I kind of liked it. Every scene, I'm like, different hair. Oh god, different hair. There's like there's some hair where I was like, no, go back to the previous hair. I think my favorite hair of hers was actually like the at the very beginning, the like big swoop, like it's I don't know, like almost kind of feathered type look. And she like puts the hairspray on. I was like, I loved it, loved it. So the s the character of Sally Albright was based on the film screenwriter Nora Efron. Um, so like the character, Efron primarily worked as a journalist, although by the time when Harry Met Sally was released, she had already pinned two scripts, Silk. Or Silkwood, which was co-written by somebody, and Heartburn, which was adapted from her deeply personal novel based on her own divorce. Many of Sally's quirks were taken directly from Efron, including her penchant for precise food orders. According to IMDB, several years after the movie was released, Ephron was asked by a stewardess whether she had seen the film she exhibited her trademark pickiness while ordering on a flight. So like she's ordering on a flight, and the stewardess is like, Have you seen when Harry Met Sally? Because you're doing that. And she's like, That's actually based on me because I wrote it. Fucking love that.
SPEAKER_01:Love it. Um, and then and then like the guy's like, no one's ever quoted my own writing back to me before. Yeah, I know. It's it's wow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Damn, I love that you said that because I did not piece that together. That's awesome. That has to be great, though. It's like you do like if we were just on the street and then like we just heard someone say something we said from the podcast, it'd be like, Where'd you hear that from? Well, hopefully it's something you said. Yeah, like your center's ass-to-mouth comment.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I'm so embarrassed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you should listen to that whole episode. I'm embarrassed too. Um, so uh Harry Burns was inspired by director Rob Reiner. So Efron admitted that she wrote the screenplay with her close friend and collaborator Rob Reiner in mind, as Harry, because of this, the two talk-titled characters played by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan wasn't actually supposed to end up together in the first draft. Um, instead, the film ended with them crossing paths a year later and simply was simply a meditation of contemporary dating. Uh, the desire to make the film about dating in New York City in the 1980s as 30 somethings came from Reiner and Efron's own experience as New Singleton. Ephron had split from her second husband, Carl Bernstein, in 1979, and ran Rob Reiner as well did. He went through a devastating breakup in 1981. He divorced his wife 10 years later, director and actor Penny Marshall, and found himself back in the dating pool. So this was supposed to be a movie about like fucking relationships, right? Damn, you meet these great people, and then all of a sudden they let you down, and then you just kind of pass by each other, and it's like, hey, how's life? You know? Um, but the film's ending was changed. You know why? Why? Because Rob Reiner met his wife while making the movie, and then he fell in love again and started to believe in love. So he's like, they changed the ending of the movie. Um, he couldn't figure out how I was gonna get uh Okay, so speaking to A. V. Club, Reiner explained that originally he couldn't figure out how I was going to get with anybody, but that all changed when he met Singer, who he went on to marry the same year the film was released. They have three children and are together. Um, so you know the scene where they're like um they're in that one bit like the museum and whatever, and he starts doing his little voice. Well, so that was improv. And you can kind of see Meg Ryan looking off screen, and I'll explain why. So when Harry delivered the line, but I wouldn't be proud to partake of your pecan pie, Sally laughs and shoots to a look to her left. She was actually looking to Reiner for direction. So according to Crystal, Reiner silently prompted Ryan to keep going. Um, while making an appearance on The View in 2014, Crystal explained that scene was all improvised, and I didn't tell Meg I was going to do this. I said to Rob and Nora, I have an idea that uh he, I have an idea that he's starting to fall in love with her, but they don't know it. When you start to get friendly with someone, you start doing a cute voice. So I had this idea for a guy who would launch into this voice, talk like this to her, and Rob said, Just go. You saw her look off to the right, she looks to Rob and goes, What's going on? Essentially. I'm like, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:That's pretty funny.
SPEAKER_00:And I guess the whole like Pictionary thing that was all improvised as well. Um, yeah, I've seen that a lot. Her thing was insane, though. It's like and I love the guy, it's like baby talk, what's that? And it's like, what did he say? It's like baby something. It's like, yeah, that makes more sense. That's great. And it's funny, it's our second movie in like two months where they're doing Pictionary, and it's very funny.
SPEAKER_01:I used I remember watching that show on TV. So old. Pictionary? No, not Pictionary, it was Win Loser Draw. Oh, okay. I was like, never heard of that. Because that's what I thought it was. Oh, gotcha.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, is that what they're doing? I don't know. I just assume they're drawing it as Pictionary. Yeah, it's basically the same thing.
SPEAKER_01:But they made a game show on on television about it. I would watch that in a heartbeat.
SPEAKER_00:So the four-way phone call scene took more than 60 takes to get right. Because they're all doing it at the same time.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh I was wondering how like they couldn't hear and I mean, I guess they could. It seems like I guess they say on the surface, the scene looks like the simplest thing in the world, four people on the phone. Um uh he said to USA Today. What people don't understand is that there's no way to cut away if someone makes even the smallest mistakes. The actors rehearsed intensely to nail the four pages of dialogue and spent a day on set shooting 61 takes before it had had it in the can, according to the outlet. What's more, in an earlier take, his casting crew had managed to pull it off without any hiccups and were about to call it a day when a sound technician informed them that a flock of birds rustling in the studio rafters had ruined it. And I think there was also another one, the guy that plays Jess, like Harry's friend. Yeah. They had it all perfect. Yeah, Bruno, something, yeah. Um, and like he flubbed his very last line and they had to redo the whole thing. It's so great.
SPEAKER_01:Um and someone was just listening to Flock of Seagulls, that would have ruined anything.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um yeah, and I think that's pretty much everything. Oh, wait, I do have some casting things. So apparently, uh considered for the role was s uh of Sally was Molly Ringwald. So glad it didn't work out though, because uh McBride's perfect and this kind of this this really like amped up her career. Um and then for Harry, I guess the first person that Rob Reiner thought of was actually let's see, who was Albert Brooks. I don't know. Um, you know, he's a bad guy in drive. Oh yeah. Yeah, that guy. Um who chose to turn it down the part because he said the script was too much like a Woody Allen movie, which is this movie gets a lot of comparison to like Manhattan and things like that. Any wouldn't I Woody Allen movies? Yeah, I think people just aren't smart sometimes, and they're just like romantic comedy in New York. It has to be a Woody Allen movie. But it's like uh I don't know. This I kind of like Harry Mitsalle more than those, and you know Woody Allen is uh friends with Epstein, so fuck that guy. Um, and other actors considered for the role was Tom Hanks, who said the movie was too lightweight for him at the moment. Uh Michael Keaton, who I actually think Billy Crystal with his bad wig at the beginning of the movie, almost from the side, kind of looks like Michael Keaton. I literally put it in my notes. Um also Harrison Ford, Bill Murray, and Richard Dreyfus. Uh, all those except for maybe Tom Hanks would have been wrong. Probably uh Tom Hanks could have done it, I feel like. But either way, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks worked on we got you've got mail, so it all eventually came together.
SPEAKER_01:I think Billy Crystal's probably the most New York New York-y looking of all those places.
SPEAKER_00:He really is, right. Reiner ultimately offered Crystal the part, noting it turned out way better than anything I could have imagined, because not only was he great in the part, it made our friendship better. Yeah, that's pretty much all the notes I got. Um I just I love the facts. I just I love like just hearing how movies came together. It just I love it. I love it. Yeah. So we're gonna hop into the plot before we do so. We would like to know, we're gonna at the end, we say what the point of the movie is, or what I at least think the point of the movie is. So, but if you would like to tell us the point of the movie, you can go to the link in the description, click it, text us what you think the point of the movie is, or just say anything like, hey, what's up, dog? Yeah, what up? Or go to the very bottom of the description where you can see our uh email. We recommend mailbag at gmail.com. You send us something, we will say it on the podcast. Yeah. We actually had Vin Diesel comment about our podcast on YouTube. He said, Your podcast is dumb. So that's what Vin Diesel thinks. His username was Vin Diesel, and I thought it was so funny because like the week before he said that, we just did Fast and the Furious, and I was like, Did he do this on purpose? But he didn't do about it. He didn't do it on the Fast and the Furious podcast. I'm like, what did you call my podcast dumb? He had this great chance to do as Vin Diesel to call the podcast dumb on Fast and the Furious. He spends a lot of time looking at obscure videos on the I know. I was like, Why? It's it is funny because like I love the ones when we get like a nice, like someone says something really nice, it's like, oh yay. Um, but when people like literally go on like these small channels, like because you know, I've clicked on like small videos because they're talking about like a game or something I want to listen to, and you see like this is a shitty ass video, and it'd be like it's a perfectly fine video. And it's like, you'd have nothing better to do. It's like we're the tiniest little audience here. Like, is that really necessary? But I don't know. I was like, damn, this hurts. This hurts though. This hurts hearing from Dom Dredd. I guess we'll we'll just have to keep going a quarter mile at a time. Then he said, like, yeah, learn from a I'm like, well, learn from what? You didn't tell me anything. You just said my podcast was dumb. What am I supposed to learn from that? That's how I know it wasn't really Vin Diesel. He would have had something inspirational to say. He would have.
SPEAKER_01:He would have said, Hey, you guys are doing your best, but you gotta do a little bit better. Yeah, that's our new year, New Year's resolution.
SPEAKER_00:Don't get Vin Diesel to like us. That could be anyone's goal. I think anybody could, yeah. I mean, I think he'd probably like us. Unless he's yeah, I mean he could be a douche. He might not like anybody, I don't know. Anyways, when Harry met Sally, 1989, baby, tangents. So the film opens with an older couple sitting on a love seat. This is the first of many like documentary style scenes of older couples describing how they first met. So, speaking out about his successful marriage, the balding husband talks directly into the camera with his wife, white-haired wife, next to him. I was sitting with my friend Arthur Cornbloom in a restaurant. It was a horn and hearted cafeteria, and this pl and this beautiful girl walked in, he gestures towards his wife, and I turned to Arthur and I said, Arthur, you see that girl? I'm gonna marry her. And two weeks later, we were married, and it's over 50 years later, and we're still married. I love it. Like a lot of these, there's always a slightly girl next to him just shaking their head. I love it. Uh, you know, it's crazy though, getting married after two weeks of knowing someone. That's insane, right? Yeah, it's quick. I was I'm completely opposite. It's like, all right, me and Natalie have been together for seven years, let's get married.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, sunk costume. It was in seven years, but it was close enough.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so then the film fades into a scene on a university campus and a close-up a couple, 26-year-old Harry Burns and his 20-year-old girlfriend Amanda Reese, are confiding their love to each other and kissing madly. They are obviously in love uh when a yellow station wagon drives up behind them with 21-year-old Sally Albright, Amanda's pal. After their college graduation, Sally is driving Harry, her best friend's boyfriend, to New York from their school in Chicago. It will be an 18-hour trip. Woof. Um, I love it. Like there's making out. She pulls up and she's like, it's like classic bit. Love it. Uh so uh Sally is blonde, smiley, clean living, structured, and very organized in an uptight way, and she has already planned the entire trip. On the other hand, Harry is more of a slob as he demonstrates by eating grapes, grapes, and forgetting to roll down the window. Like, oh, sorry about that. And he spits out grape seeds. Uh, they immediately dislike each other, essentially. It's just like, hey, um, Harry, you're an asshole.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's maybe he doesn't mean it. Because, like, have you ever tried to squeeze a lemon into your like your drink at a restaurant and it just squirts on the person next to you?
SPEAKER_00:No. Um, that's a way different than Jerry. Spitting spitting out seeds is just gross in general. Yeah, for sure. Eat the seeds if you're in a car with someone to spit. It's like the most disgusting spits, too. It's like so gross. Yeah, it's just like, I don't know, get a cup or something. Jesus. Um, because they have a long trip ahead, Harry asks, why don't you tell me the story of your life? Sally's a would-be journalist who is uh to go to journalism school to become a reporter, and she wants to make a start in Manhattan. By contrast, Harry has a darker side and obsessed with death. But Sally is one of those cheerful people who dot their eyes with little hearts. Oh. Um, I love the idea. Like he's like, she's like, oh, why are you so dark? It's like, well, I make sure I read the last page of a book just in case I die. So it's like, hell yeah. That's what I love about this movie. It's so clever. It's like I know, but he's just like, if I die tomorrow, I want to know the hell of the book ended. Wow. And that's kind of because you know, books can take a while to read if you're a busy person. Or if you're a slow reader like me, which is why I should not be reading on a podcast. Um, the opinion aid of Harry is also obsessed with the film Casablanca. What do you think about the film? Casablanca. You never have? It's really good. Um, it's kind of, you know, that movie that's like, it's a classic, you gotta watch it. And it's like the ending. It's one of those movies that is a classic and it's actually good. And it's not boring. I actually really like it. Um there explosions? No. No. Yeah. So, and uh they argue about it and it's kind of a voice voiceover that they're arguing, expressing their two contrary perspectives about the film's finale. Her practical choice, later denied, is that she would prefer to leave with Victor Laszlo rather than stay with the self-sacrificing romantic hero Rick. He's like, Yeah. Harry's like, Yeah, but you could be having great sex with Rick instead of having just like boring sex with this guy. She's like, Well, I could just be like rich and happy and stuff. And he's like, Don't you want the passion? Essentially, it's like saying that she makes smart decisions, he makes uh spur of the moment types of decisions, right? Yes. Um, as they enter a roadside cafe, Harry demonstrates his sex, sexist, and argumentative nature. Soon Sally is debating the odds of having great sex with a guy named Sheldon.
SPEAKER_01:While they uh nobody has great sex with a guy named Sheldon.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I'm sorry. And I love like when she's they're entering the uh diner, like they're talking about sex, and he's like, I've had good sex, like really loud. And she's like, she's all embarrassed about it, which is a great contrast a little later in the film. Yeah. Um, she is compulsively concerned about how her food should be prepared as well. Harry, um, it's like, no, you didn't. A Sheldon, do not uh Sheldon can do your income taxes. If you need a root canal, Sheldon's your man, but humping and bumping is not Sheldon's strong suit, it's the name. Do it for me, Sheldon. You're an animal, Sheldon. Ride me, big Sheldon. Doesn't work. It is uh it is Did you ever think about your name in that situation? It's like, wait, is Jesse a good name that people would want to have sex with? Sure. Is that something you should think about when you're naming your kid?
SPEAKER_01:No, I don't I know I never thought about it.
SPEAKER_00:Like if you have if we have a boy, it's like, I gotta give my son a name that whenever a girl's saying having sex with him, they're like, that's my Maximus, that's my husband's damn name. But then again, he has a name Harry. Is that the sexiest name you've ever heard of? Oh, Harry. Harry. Uh curious about a relationship with Sheldon, but also feigning disinterest. Harry pursues the issue further. Harry, so how come you broke up with Sheldon? Sally, how do you know we broke up? Because if you didn't break up, you wouldn't be with me. You'd be off with Sheldon, the wonder schlong. Sally, first of all, I'm not with you. And second of all, it's none of your business why we broke up. Harry, you're right, you're right. I don't want to know. Well, if you must know, it was because he was very jealous and had these days of the week underpants. Harry makes a loud buzzer sound. I'm sorry, I need a judge's ruling on this. Days of the week underpants. He's like, Yes, I have these days of the week on them, and I thought they were sort of funny. And then one day, Sheldon says to me, You never wear Sunday. He's all suspicious. Where was Sunday? Where had I left Sunday? And I told him he didn't believe me. Harry, what they don't make Sunday. Why not? Because of God. Oh, so good. So funny. God wouldn't want underpants with Sunday on them. I really wouldn't. Yeah. That's what that I think, like, if anything, I feel like that's charming for Sally, right? I'd be like, you have days of the week underpants. That's hilarious. That is pretty funny. That's great. You're you seem like a fun person. So after Sally has finished figuring out her portion of the bill and tips uh that she will pay by using calculator, Harry just stares at her and flirtatiously remarks how attractive she is. As they leave the diner, Sally defensively defensively believes he is coming on to her to carry his lifelong reasoning further to get her riled up to argue this his point. Harry proposes going to bed with her. It's like, Harry, come on, bro. Ultimately, Harry believes that men and women cannot be friends because sex will always interfere. Um, and this is like pretty much the discussion throughout the whole film, right? Um and I love there's this one line, okay, what can I say? I take it back, Sally. You can't take it back. It's always out there. It's kind of a true thing. Once you realize like someone, like whenever you find out like a friend like kind of likes you, it's just like and if you don't like like them back, right? Because it's happened to me before, and I was like, Oh, like that's awesome. Well, how do we have a normal friendship now that I know that? And I know I feel like I have to kind of think about what I'm saying and doing and acting now. And it's just like, ah, that sucks. Um, which I feel like girls have to deal with more than oh guys. So that really sucks for them. So uh, and then there's another quote. It's like, I have plenty of friends, yeah, but they all want to have sex. Harry, doesn't matter because the sex thing is already out there, so the friendship is ultimately doomed. And that is the end of the story. Well, I guess we're not gonna be friends then, Harry. Guess not. That's too bad. You're the only person I knew in New York. Oh shit.
SPEAKER_01:It's a big place.
SPEAKER_00:So the camera tracks their cars, it crosses George Washington Bridge into New York City, and they arrive at Harry's destination near Washington Square. In an awkward moment, goodbye. They shake hands and part ways after an interesting ride. Harry, it was nice to know you. Sally, yeah. Um, have a nice life, you too.
SPEAKER_01:Never gonna see each other again.
SPEAKER_00:And then we uh cut to the interlude. Uh second uh interview is presented uh with an even older couple sitting together on the same love seat. Woman, we fell in love in high school, man. Yeah, we were in high school sweethearts, woman, but then after our junior year, his parents moved away. Man, but I never forgot her. Woman, he never forgot me. Man, no, her face was burned on my brain, and ouch, and it was 34 years later, and I was walking down Broadway and I saw her come out of Tofinetti's woman. We both look looked at each other, and it was just as uh that not a single day has gone by. She was just as beautiful as she was at 16. He was just the same, he looked exactly the same. That's sweet. So yeah, then we get to the next scene, and they're at LaGorda Airport in New York. Um and then we see Sally and Joe, they're like making out, and then Harry walks by in a suit and tie, and he's like kind of walks away off camera and then does the hilarious bit that I love in all my things, and I even put in my short film where you kind of walk backwards and come back. And he's like, Hey, it's Joe. It is always a good bit. I love it. It's always funny in me. And it got the biggest laugh in my entire thing. Nice. Um so yeah, Harry now wearing a suit and tie, passes a couple to catch a plane to Washington. He notices them, goes past, and then backs up. Joe, a lawyer and acquaintance of Harry, who has become political consultant. Although he greets Joe, Harry's unable to play Sally in his memory, but he looks quizzically at her after being introduced, and then they board a plane together. She tells Joe about her distasteful memories of their college era drive to New York. I wouldn't get involved with her. Um, it's like it's like, oh, I can't remember his name. It's like, I wouldn't get involved with me. I said, uh, I said we could just be friends, and this is part I remember. He said that men and women could never really be friends. Do you think that's true? Joe, no. Sally, do you have any women friends just like just friends? Joe, no, but I'll get one if it's important to you. And then she also has like the line that I thought I was about to say, uh, it's like, oh, I wouldn't be with me. I can't even remember someone's name. So they find themselves on the same plane and only one row apart, he's like hiding. He kind of like we don't see him, and then he pops his head out of the thing as she's like telling a story. Um, Harry overhears Sally fussing over an order and then suddenly places her. Um, it's like the University of Chicago, right? Uh, they were new acquaintances after he switches seats to next to her. Both of them are in relationships. Sally has only known Joe for a month, and she tells Harry, neither of us are looking to get married right now. Um, on the contrary, Harry, a crude cynical womanizer who is madly in love, is embracing life um and getting married to Helen Hilson, a lawyer. Um, she laughs at him and says, That's so that's so optimistic of him. She's essentially tired, he is essentially tired of the whole going out to eat, doing the white man overbike so good. Oh man. And then after sex, having to hold her somewhere between, you know, 30 seconds and the whole night is the problem. Um, it's like you get all sweaty. It's like, I know, it's just like, dude, you suck, dude. It's just like he's just getting married, so he never has a date anymore. I mean, that's like it seems like that's the only reason he's getting married. It's a pretty good reason. Dating is horrible. It's like, eh, you know, maybe get in a relationship. Um, so yeah, they uh then they're leaving the airport and while staying over in Washington, Harry proposes that they both have dinner together as friends as they they're standing on like this moving esc escalator at the airport. Uh he struggles to explain. Yeah. He struggles to explain that he has an amendment to his earlier rule about relationships between men and women. Yes, that's right. They can't be friends unless both of them are involved with other people. Then they can. Um, this is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted. That doesn't work either because what happens then is the person you're involved with can't understand why you need to be friends with the person you've just been you've you're just friends with. Like it means something that it's missing from the relationship and wanted to go outside to get. Then you say, no, no, no, it's not true. Nothing is missing from the relationship. The person you're involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just friends with, which you probably are. I mean, come on, who the hell are we just kidding? Let's face it, which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can't be friends. So where does it leave us? And then they both realize they must not see each other ever again. It's just like after that conversation, if I was her, I'd be like, Can you go? Will you leave me alone? They can't go anywhere, they're stuck on that thing. Yeah, not love it. She's they're like both trying to walk away, and he's like, I'll stay back here for a bit.
SPEAKER_01:It's such a good time. Love those things. Yeah. Never been to have them everywhere. Everywhere people need to walk. Just have those.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they had them at uh Universal. Yeah. When you go there, and it's like always, I'm like, hell yeah. So fast. This should be on every sidewalk ever. Because I'm like, now if I start walking, I go faster. You know what's annoying? People do. It's like, hey, you're just supposed to get there faster, guys. It's not it's not just for a fun little ride. Unless that's what it's supposed to be, but I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01:No, I don't think I think it's to get places fast. Yeah. Especially long hallways.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But I just love this like whole little monologue. And first it just like it's very uh it just gives me a lot of appreciation for Billy Crystal because I had the words in front of me and I could barely say it. But he said it so fast and like so witty, and it's great. But I love the fact like, yeah, we should be friends, and actually I have amendment to what I said, and then just comes all the way back to around maybe we shouldn't be friends. It's just so funny. Oh, this movie is so clever. Nora Efron, God bless you. So then we see a third older couple sit in a love seat, describe their convoluted path to their successful second marriage after their first marriage, three years ended in a five-year-long divorce. It's actually his fourth attempt to marriage after two consecutive divorces. Nice. He's like, Who was I? It's like the ending line is the best. Um, because he's like, Yeah, and then I was at a funeral with my then wife, Roberta, and he can never remember the neck girl's name. She's constantly remembering their names. And then he said, Um, it's like, man, right, Roberta. I but I couldn't take my eyes off you. I remember I snuck over to her and said, What did I say? You said, What are you doing after? Man, right. So I ditched Roberta. We go for coffee. A month later, we're married. Woman, 35 years to the day after our first marriage. So good. It's like this guy.
SPEAKER_01:They finally figured it out.
SPEAKER_00:They figured it out. It just took them a while. That's crazy, especially when you think about these are real stories, right? Yeah. It's like, what? Dude, that's a lot of stories like that. Yeah. So Sally is seated at a New York restaurant table with two other women who are friends and confidants. Marie, who's Carrie Fisher. Fun. It's great. This is what she kind of just did a lot of little roles like this after Star Wars, and it's like, she's so good in all of them. She's in the bird, it's great. So good. Yeah, the bird's really good. So uh who and Marie regularly dates married men without success. And Alice is another one of her friends. Uh, we don't really see her that much. Uh Sally has just broken up with Joe uh after growing apart for quite a while. To assist her friend, Marie takes out her Rolodex of available men, but Sally wants to wait until she is over her mourning period. I love that she has I love this whole movie, just has like no cards and little Rolodexes, and it's like, we didn't have phones. Crazy. Kind of wish we did.
SPEAKER_01:Like when she's when they're doing karaoke and she's got the words written down.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. It's like so good. So uh Marie doesn't want Sally to wait too long or she'll miss her opportunity. I'm saying that the right man for you might be out there right now. And if you don't grab him, someone else will, and you'll have to spend the rest of your life knowing that someone else is married to your husband. Dang. It's just it's just such a silly little line, but it's just like, well, she never met him, so she wouldn't know. Yeah. And then at a New York Jet or Giants game, uh, in between waves of passing through the crowd, they're having a conversation with the stuff. Oh, the kid's standing up for a wave. Oh man. Uh sad wave. Yeah. Harry despondently tells friend Jess, uh, his confident, that his marriage to Helen is dissolving. His wife in a casual way just tells him he she doesn't want to be married to him anymore, and he thinks it's just been something that she's been thinking for a while, just because how nonchalantly she says it. Um, so he decides to ask. So I say to her, Don't you love me anymore? And you know what she says? I don't know if I ever loved you. As a writer, Jesse Jess explains how that was a very harsh comment to be told. Harry explains how he found out that his wife had planned to move out all along at least a week earlier because she had hired movers, one of whom had a t-shirt uh with don't fuck with Mr. Zero, who had been notified, but he wasn't told because she didn't want to ruin his birthday. So the mover knew it was a divorce, and that's how he found out through the move uh through uh, you know, don't fuck with Mr. Zero guy. Um uh let's see. So yeah, Harry's wife is moving out, and the pretense of her subletting someone else's apartment for the trial separation was a lie. According to Harry, she's in love with someone else, some tax attorney. She moved in with him. Disillusioned and cynical about his marriage. Harry feels he's been used and uh humiliated. Harry, I knew the whole time that even though we were happy, it was just an illusion and that one day she would kick the shit out of me. Jess, marriages don't break up on accident or of account of infidelity. It's just a symptom of that something else is wrong. Harry, oh really? Well, that symptom's fucking my wife.
SPEAKER_01:The wave.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so good. So then Harry and Sally, they meet again. It's the third encounter. This time it's like in a bookstore. He's staring at her from a personal gross section while nearby she's conversing with Marie. Yeah, I know. But it's like, you know, sometimes you're like, is that who I think it is?
SPEAKER_01:Is that what he's doing? Or like what is he doing?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think he noticed her and he's kind of waiting for a time to go talk to her. Oh, it's a weird thing guys do, where it's like, all right, let me build up confidence real quick. But then the whole time you're like staring at him like a deer in headlights.
SPEAKER_01:White knuckles.
SPEAKER_00:It's like we don't mean to be creepy, it's just we don't know what to do. That's why they choose the bear. Yeah. Um, so yeah, he's staring at her. Uh, she's talking to Marie, uh, and he's like grasping a book titled Smart Women, Foolish Choices, Finding the Right Men, or she's grasping a book called Smart Women, Foolish Choices, Finding the Right Men, Avoiding the Wrong Ones. And it's been so he walks up. It's been 10 years since her overnight drive from Chicago to New York. After learning that she has broken up with Joe and that he is in the midst of a divorce to Helen, the two decide to have coffee together in a restaurant and talk about their ill-flated relationships. There she discusses her lack of commitment to Joe, how the issue of sex eliminated when a couple gets married. She talks about how like having kids and being tired all the time, Zacks' sex out of life. But then while she's like babysitting a kid, she wants a family because they never go, because there's also this thing like, oh, we don't want to get married because we can go to Rome, we can have sex on the floor, and things like that. That never happens. And then she sees a family, and then it's just like she tells him it's like, we never go to Rome, we never have sex on the floor. It's too cold. It is very good to the tiles. Um, so when she confronts Joe, Joe says he doesn't want anything, so they left. They broke up, and it's like, damn. So yeah, that's why. And uh this is all gonna suck later for her when she finds out what Joe does. So as they walk along the park, the relationship has matured. Um, and they discuss their first meeting and how they didn't like each other when they first met. Even though both realize the potential dangers of becoming friends, Sally asks Harry if he would like to have dinner with her sometime. Harry quips, Great, a woman friend. You know, you might be the first attractive woman I don't want to have sex with. Sally, thanks, Harry.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that was really funny. And like the whole like, uh, is there a statute of limitations on apologies?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, this is where we get the first interlude with the or the fourth one where the elderly couple are talking over and there's the elevator one. Yeah, and it's so great. I wrote up nine extra floors just to keep talking to you. So good. Um, so the next sequence presents a montage of images while Harry and Sally talk on the phone. They're like both talking about being alone in a saddle essentially. At work, Harry stares at his bird drinking uh like one of those birds that just kind of dips his beak in water. Have you ever had one of those? I've always wanted one too. They don't really do anything. I know, but it just seems like a calming presence like, yes, bird, get water.
SPEAKER_01:I remember one day in high school, I missed um I missed class. I missed I missed the whole day of school. And the next day I came in, and in chemistry, they had made those. That day that I was gone, I was so upset.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's awesome. I want to make one. So upset. Maybe we should do a YouTube video of us making one. Nice. People are like, this is riveting. Um, Sally is also busy at a work computer terminal and a fussy eater as she serves herself from a supermarket, Sally Bar a depressed, pathetic looking Harry in a vacant apartment, tosses playing cards into a bowl ten feet away. Sally vigorously takes tap dancing classes in a Chinese restaurant.
SPEAKER_01:She uh she's sold, she's sad.
SPEAKER_00:She's like depressed and dancing. Yeah. Everyone else. Like so intensely dancing. Everybody's smiling. She's like, I'm mad. And then they get like uh dinner at a um at a Chinese restaurant, and later he stands impatiently behind her. She mails letters. That was hilarious. She's like, just put them in. What are you doing? She's like, wait, get them back. And then we kind of get a split screen effect as they both are watching Casablanca together on uh television with while reclining in their own beds in their apartment, but they were maintain a conversation about the film on the phone. Harry calls her high maintenance. She says she just wants the things the way she wants it. Is that so bad?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They end the call, and Harry stays up all night moaning.
SPEAKER_01:It's like, well, what am I to practice right now? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:She's like, You gonna be okay? It's like, yeah, I'm just gonna stay up all night moaning. So it's like, mmm. Bye, Harry. I don't know. It's like, you know, it's just like sad people, you know. Sometimes you're sad and you just have to make a noise. So Harry and Sally, they start spending more time together and the friendship blossoms. In one sequence, they share their deepest fantasy amidst walks. Harry's insecurities are reflected in the recurring dream in which he's his love making as judged in the Olympics. My mother, disguised as an East German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount. Oh man. Ah terrible dream. Oh God, it's so good. And then Sally describes her embarrassing sexual fantasy as she as she had since puberty. A faceless guy rips off her clothes. That's it. Sometimes it's different. Like what? The clothes I'm wearing. And she just like walks away. He walks away and she's like, What? What? But I I love this scene because like when they're because it cuts to them kind of walking in like a park in New York. There's like a bench, there's leaves on the ground, they're all orange. Like they're stylish as hell. I love this. My favorite Meg Meg Ryan outfit in the movie. Like her little hat. I'm just like, ah, this is amazing. Ah, I want to go there. Yeah, I do. I want to walk with my wife there.
SPEAKER_01:I would like to see like upstate New York in the fall.
SPEAKER_00:It's just like the leaves changed. It's so good. So using funny voices, Harry nonchalantly asked her to the movies, but she has a date and was uncomfortable telling because they spend so much time together. He says she should wear a skirt because she looks good in skirts. And you can see that she's kind of flattered. She's like, uh, he said something really nice. So after each have horrible dating experiences, they discuss how uncomfortable it is to get out there. Although Sally encourages Harry with advice, the first date back is always the toughest. She describes how bad her dream date really was. How much worse can it get than finishing dinner, having him reach over, pull a hair out of my head, and start flossing with it at the table? I'd slap the shit out of her if I was her. I'd call the cops. I'd be like, I need 911. This man's gonna murder me tonight. So he has dental floss. Insane. You had a date that bad? Uh no. Me neither. That's pretty bad. I think my worst date was that one I told you about Balls of Fury watching that in theaters. That was probably my worst date where I was like, this is I can see that. Well, I guess my first well, it wasn't really a date. She's like invited me with her friends and stuff. But I guess like my first like real date was kind of awkward because my first real date, and it was with like my first real girlfriend, and we like we went to eat at Raphael's in um uh Winchester, and I was nervous, I had no sense of style, I knew it. I was like, is this the best I have to wear? And she obviously looked had better sense of style than me. All I had was like poor boy clothes, and it's just like the ugliest jacket, and the whole time I was like, I had no idea what to say. I was nervous, I couldn't eat, and then it's just like we went back to her place and she had a pool house and we just like watched Family Guy and she fell asleep. And I was like, Is this a good date?
SPEAKER_01:She felt comfortable enough around you to fall asleep in your presence. Well, I was like, wow, she must be bored. So she just wasn't afraid of you. I think that's I think that yeah. It's probably refreshing.
SPEAKER_00:I just like I don't know if that was her first day. I can't remember, but I'm like, I feel so bad.
SPEAKER_01:The worst date I think I ever took someone on was uh to go see monster trucks. Uh I was uh well, you've had really good dates then.
SPEAKER_00:Jason, you should have taken me on that first day.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know if she enjoyed it or not. We never spoke again after that night. Wow. Uh I guess she didn't look at it.
SPEAKER_00:I want to say she did not enjoy herself. Yeah, yeah, it's true. But like monster trucks. No. Tell me about it. They're driving into each other. Why don't we do this? Bigfoot's there, gravedigger's there. Gravedigger was there. You're doing flips, jumping over things, boom, jumping over barrels and shit. They got big old tiles.
SPEAKER_01:They really do.
SPEAKER_00:I think that was a great date. So Harry relates to how his nice date was completely humorous, not laughing at his jokes about eating in an Ethiopian restaurant and being awkwardly unable to relate to her. They offered mutual support to each other after traumatic dating. That's true. As a boy who finds himself funny, because what else do I have to offer? Gotta laugh at me, man.
SPEAKER_01:Self-deprecation.
SPEAKER_00:If you're not laughing at me, I don't know what else I have to give.
SPEAKER_01:Have you ever had Ethiopian? I have not. That'll play since the Murphy's Brother now. Uh in Nashville.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, all I know about Ethiopian food is what it Wait, actually, I don't even know if that's Ethiopian in that show. Never mind. So Harry provides the punchline of the scene. Even though his dates were terrible, he admits, oh, I went to bed with her to Sally's son's basement.
SPEAKER_01:It's not after he walked out having a panic attack. Yeah. Oh, yeah, we still live with that.
SPEAKER_00:So the next discussion that Harry has with Jess during baseball hitting practice, which is I don't know why. I just I just love the fact that they're hitting baseball. It's like no one does that anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Oh. Right?
SPEAKER_00:And it's like, no one would ever put that in a movie anymore.
SPEAKER_01:I always thought it was scary.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Uh I've done it a couple times. It's not that scary. Just don't stand over the plate. Yeah, no, I always thought it was too scary. I always did it, but like it was scary. But the best uh batting practice scene is from Happy Gilmore, where he just takes it in the chest. Gotta get ready for next season. So the next discussion, they're at the base with Jess. It's um it's like provides further commentary on male and female relationships. Harry explains to Jess during baseball hitting practices about their uniqueness of his platonic relationship with Sally, that he enjoys being with Sally and that he finds her attractive but doesn't sleep with her. It's freeing. He even talks about his relationships with her. Jess, you made a woman meow? Because he's talking about like, yeah, I told her the story where it's like our sex was so good, I made a woman meow. Wow. Amazing. Yeah. And so it's just and the just sleeve famous restaurant deli scene, um, which is still there, and you can even sit in their booth. Really? Is it Mark? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I want to be Meg Ryan. Yeah. Um, the commitment shy Harry describes how he can just get up, out of bed, and leave after sex by any number of fake excuses. I say I have an early meeting, an early haircut, an early squash game. Sally is confronted by his insensitivity, insensitivity, and sexist attitudes. Harry confidently believes his sexual prowess satisfies his female partners and brings them to orgasm. Just Sally explains how most women at one time or another have faked it. Harry doesn't believe that and has been fooled because he knows.
SPEAKER_01:How many people do you think still do that? Like go there, sit in the booth, and make the fake orgasm sounds once a week, for sure. I wonder if they have like a bell they ring. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:If you do it just right, you get free food. So, Jason, do you think a girl's ever had a fake orgasm with you in bed?
SPEAKER_01:Most likely. I can't be like good.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I've never had anyone act like this. Oh no. Uh no, no, no, that's never happened. If they don't act like this, then I have no idea if they faked an orgasm. Because they all seem very believable and not over the top.
SPEAKER_01:Just look at the disappointment on their face. Yeah. That's all you know.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I and it's also one of those things where it's just like, um, well, you know, times we're having sex and they don't have an orgasm, it's never been like a big deal. It's just been like it's just been like
SPEAKER_01:Get it next time.
SPEAKER_00:Don't worry. Get your next set. I'll I'll pay you back, I promise. So it's just like, uh, so because I was like, if anyone ever did this in bed, I'd be like, I can't make this happen, so I don't know what's going on here. You flatter me. But then I guess everybody has, you know, like everybody orgasms differently. So men and women. So, you know, who knows, right? There could be people that orgasm like this. Yeah, maybe. But after watching this movie, if anyone ever did orgasm like this, I'd be like, I don't believe this. I'd be like, excuse me, can you stop? Tell me the truth. Yeah. What is this? Why are you being told the truth? Why are you? It's like, is this normal for you? Is this what you always do? Just be like very hairy about it and be like, uh, what's happening here? So Sally looks at Harry seductively and begins to illustrate in the middle of a busy restaurant how easily women can convincingly fake an orgasm with loud and long displays, pants, groans, gas, hair ruffling, caresses, table pounding, and um uh uh uh and then she's like yelling, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. The entire restaurant gets quiet. They're all looking at her and they're like, What the hell is going on? Uh when she's finished with her demonstration, she calmly composes herself, picks up her fork, and resumes eating. This is followed by the film's funniest punchline delivered by another customer, which is Rob Reiner's mother. Really? I'll have what she's having. So good. And I guess apparently, like then when it cuts away in the next scene, they live like 10 seconds away because they knew it was such a good scene that they're like, people in the audiences were gonna be laughing. And then I was listening to kind of a podcast talking about it, and they're like, Yeah, when I saw it in theaters, like people just kept laughing. Like, no, it was just like almost a full minute of a theater laughing. That's amazing. Um, but what I love about this is that so if we think about when they first met in Chicago, right? And they're taking the drive, they stop at a diner and she yells that she has sex really loud, and then she's like so embarrassed. Cut to now, like Harry has brought out this side of her where it's just like, I don't fucking care where I am. I can like, you know, be loud. And it's like great that they're they're kind of changing each other, which is what relationships kind of do. Yeah. It's like you take on like some of the best traits and the traits that you really like about the person that you're with, you kind of start blending them into your own personality. And I was like, this is one of the best movies I think that does that. Yeah, you're right. Like shows that because I don't really think of any movie that believably and nonchalantly shows that part about a relationship, and that's why I think Rob Reiner is such a great director, and that Nora Efron is a fucking fantastic writer of romp comms. Yeah. Um, and that's what I fucking think. So now it's Christmas time in New York City with a montage of beautiful images. Sally negotiates the price of a Christmas tree at um, this is like just by the fucking Christmas tree. But hey, I I'm just not a negotiator and we know you love negotiators.
SPEAKER_01:Or addicted to it.
SPEAKER_00:I'd just be like, hey, lady, pick another tree or pay full price for this tree. Get out of here. It's New York. So they say, um, and then they go, they're at a New Year's Eve party, um, uh champagne bottles popped open at the party, and Sally and Harry are dancing and dipping together, and they're having such a great time. They say if next year she doesn't have anybody to take to New Year's, they can go together. They slow dance and they put their cheeks together. Um the connection is growing into something more than a friendship. You like as we see them, as they're kind of dancing in circles, we see Harry's like, oh, this is perfect. I'm in love. And then like Sally's dancing, and she's like, fuck, I'm falling in love. Like her face is way different. Um But what I take from that is like Harry like feels so comfortable, but he's like emotionally immature. He doesn't realize, like, oh shit, I'm fully in love with this girl. Sally, who is more emotionally insecure, is like, fuck, I'm falling in love with this guy. And is I just think I love this movie.
SPEAKER_01:Because he's still kind of focused on his ex-wife, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he's still harboring the her from that. Yeah. Which and she doesn't think she is with hers, but later we'll find out she's really upset. But she's more but we'll figure out she's more upset about what it means about her more so. Yeah. I mean, I guess they're both kind of are. I don't know what I was gonna say there. Um, but then the countdown to New Year's begins, so they go outside and see everybody kiss. They gave a look of longing to each other, and then they peck. So uh fifth couple presents a testimony about the first meeting for their instinctive love for each other woman. He was a head counselor at the boys' camp, and I was a head counselor at the girls' camp. And they had a social one night, and he walked across the room. I thought he was coming to talk to my friend Maxine because people are always crossing rooms to talk to Maxine, but he was coming to talk to me, and he said, Man, I'm Ben Small of the Coney Island Smalls. Woman, at that moment, I knew I knew the way the way you know about a good melon. Just like, huh?
SPEAKER_01:What? Yeah, don't you have to like knock on it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. The thing about me is like hits him on the head. Yep, he's a good one in there. So both Sally and Harry plan to be matchmakers and set up uh blind dates for each other. Um, and they essentially just get their friends Marie. Uh Sally brings Marie, Harry brings uh Jess, um, and they go to a restaurant to help jumpstart new relationships with different people. On their way to the restaurant, Harry and Jess debate the age-old issue of personality versus attractiveness. Uh Jess says that when people describe a girl with a good personality, that means they aren't attractive. That's not always true. Uh yeah, I know, but that is something that I've heard guys say before in real life. Um Marie and Jess in a West Broadway restaurant. Oh, wait. Whoop. Although Jess and Sally and Marie and Harry are arranged to sit together as couples at the four-pur-person table, they engage in awkward, obviously incompatible conversations with their respective dates. However, both Marie and Jess suddenly become involved with each other after Marie quotes the line from a magazine article we wrote, restaurants are to people in the 80s. What theater was to people in the 60s? And it's just like, oh brother. Jess is astonished. Nobody's ever quoted me back before. And then like Harry and Sally give each other a look like, well, this isn't ending well for us.
SPEAKER_01:It was really funny how they left the date, though.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, because they they walk away and like Harry and Jess, they're they're all having identical conversations. They kind of split up. Sally uh Marie tells Sally, like, hey, uh, you think I can like talk to Jess or whatever? And then he's like, Oh, Harry's very sensitive right now. I really don't want you to hurt him.
SPEAKER_01:She's like, Yeah, you should, but yeah, yes, it's fine, but you should wait a couple of days. Yeah. And he's telling the same thing to Jess, and then they just both get in the cabin together.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, I need a taxi, and then they just run off. And they just look at each other like, okay. And then we get the sixth um older couple talking. It's the Asian couple, and it's just like a man just like, yeah, uh, a man came to me and said, I found a nice girl for you. She lives in the next village, and he was like, Oh, I don't want to get in a relationship if she's ugly. So he goes and checks her out, and then look, and he's like, But she looked really nice. So I said okay to the man, and then we get married, and we are married 55 years. The Asian girl does not say a word, she just sits there and nods, and it's like, what does she think? Does she hate her life? Like, what is this? That one cracked.
SPEAKER_01:My father sold me to him. That one cracks me up.
SPEAKER_00:So, four months later in the Sharper Images store, Sally and Harry are hunting for Christmas gifts for Jess Marie. Harry is sold on a basketball hoop on a stand, a um, a battery-operated pith helmet with a fan, and a one-person singing machine with cassettes for Oklahoma. And then they uh vocalize together on the Surrey with fringe on top song. And like, like, so they're like singing. It's a really cute song. He's like really putting his all in it. She's like bad at singing. And then like he sees um what was her name? What was her name? Marge uh she's Helen, and like he kind of stops singing, and then she's like, It's like Joe always said I had bad singing. It's like, no, it's not that. And then like he's startled that he sees his former wife, Helen, approach towards them with her new slightly balding boyfriend and Ira Stone. Love the name Ira Stone, especially for the line that's coming up with it. After a few excruciating pleasantry pleasantries, the couple stroll away hand in hand, and Harry is dumbfounded and all struck by the encounter. She looked weird, right? She looked very weird. Sally, I never met her. It's like she looks like uh she's like held a lot of water in her legs, and yeah, she always held on to things. Oh, then they go to a plant shop. Harry broods and stares blankly into thin air after bumping into Helen. Sally, you sure you're okay? Harry, oh, I'm fine. Look, it had to happen at some point in a city of eight million people. You're bound to run into your ex-wife. So boom, it happened, and now I'm fine. Yeah, totally. So have you ever ran into an ex randomly? Uh yeah. It's awkward. Yeah. Especially if the breakout was bad. Mine was brutal, dude. Brutal. So I was working at Home Depot. I was uh worked as a freight team member. Essentially, I put up all the stock, right? That they got in for the day. And I was putting up stuff, I was near the register, and so her and her this is the same person that I went to the Raphael's day with, right? So she comes up with her mom and like they're buying stuff from Home Depot, and then like I see them, I see them. And the mom was so nice to me. She's like, Oh, Jesse, it's good to see you. It's like, oh, we it's like, oh, it's nice to see you. Shit. The girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, said nothing. Looked terrified to see me. She looked like this was a nightmare to see me. And I was like, we didn't end that bad. It just kind of ended because it was like we just weren't compatible. I killed the night. I worked so slow. Cause I was like, you know, it would have been awkward, and I probably wouldn't have felt great if she's like, hey, it's good to see you. It's like, oh, I'm glad, what are you doing? I'm glad you're doing all right. Fucking nothing. It was wild. It was like the most awkward, like, you know, like seeing an ex-girlfriend ever. It's like, any all the other ones is like, oh, hey, how's it going? Life's good. Are you great? I'm happy too.
SPEAKER_01:She says nothing, but you're like, yeah, I'm already saying someone else. Yeah. She's from Canada, so you can't meet her.
SPEAKER_02:I've had sex 30 times too.
SPEAKER_00:It's like, it was just like, whoa, dude. I was just like, is this it the thing? It was just like, cause I, you know, because I mean, truthfully, I just wouldn't, I was like, ah, whatever. This has been like a couple, like a year or so after we broke up. So I'm like, I don't didn't really even think about her that much anymore. Right. He just like, just the reaction was uh like knife to my heart. I was like, what the hell, dude? It was rough. I was just like, we just kind of just it's just like uh I don't know. I I didn't call her enough. That was like the whole reason we broke up. It wasn't like anything insane. Did you start dating her mom after that? Yeah, I was like, what's up, too? I just ran out to the parking lot. Hey, here's my number, girl. Got me when you went over real man. I know I didn't work out with your daughter, but uh uh I'm seven, eighteen years old. Give me a call, girl. So you're smoking a cigar in Home Depot. Manager comes out, put that out, Jesse. You're holding fertilizer. Why are you things gonna catch on fire? So, in their shared west side apartment where they have settled in, Marie and Jess are discussing furniture preferences. She objects to a certain decorative item which lacks good taste, the wagon wheel coffee table. I actually didn't mind it. That was kind of cool. They threw it out. Yeah. Uh, with a glass tabletop and barstools, Harry shares his own dismal learning experiences from a six year marriage um with Helen. It's like he says, you know, at first everything's great. You hang pictures together and then you pick out tiles together. And then you know what happens? Six years later, you find yourself singing Soray with a fringe on top in front of my so good. Uh, then it just has like this whole long conversation about like, oh, you know, everything's great, and then you're yelling about an eight dollar plate. Put your names in your books now. Yeah. It's been thousands of dollars on lawyers. Um, and then he like runs out, and you're gonna be yelling at each other over the ugly, stupid talk coffee table. I thought you liked it. I was just being nice. Um Gary Fisher like turns to and's like, I just want you to know I will never want this coffee table. And then like Sally and Harry, they go out and they have a big fight, which we'll get into in a second. He's like, I don't want to talk about it as he's carrying around the coffee table.
SPEAKER_01:I hate it.
SPEAKER_00:I don't, I actually really don't. And I was like, Natalie, we're never gonna have that stuff in there. She's like, good, because I don't like farmhouse either. But I like the little visual of wagon wheels.
SPEAKER_01:So I don't mind having it. If you have a picture of a cow, great.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but don't be like cow and breakfast and chickens. It's like what? Eggs, breakfast, bread. People just hang fucking words on their walls. That means I'm country. Yes. Wooden spoons and tater tots. Like just one.
SPEAKER_01:Go to Cracker Barrel.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Just worse.
SPEAKER_00:Yep, exactly. So Sally says Harry is plagued by compulsion to express every feeling that he has had every moment that he has them. Harry is exasperated that nothing seems to bother Sally, and like him, she doesn't appear to have feelings of loss or upset for her failed relationship with Joe. Harry, if you're if you're or Harry says, if you're so over Joe, why aren't you seeing anyone? Sally, I see people. Harry, see people. Have you slept with one person since you broke up with Joe? Sally, what the hell does that have to do with anything? That will prove I'm over Joe because I fuck somebody and it's like, whoa, we're using fuck in this word. It's like in this movie. And it's like they're all Sally, which is great. Harry, you're gonna have to move back to New Orleans New Jersey because you slept with everybody in New York. And I don't see that turning Helen into a faint memory for you. Besides, I will make love to somebody when it's is making love, not the way you do it, like you're out for revenge or something. Yes. And then Harry's like, Can I say something? I apologize. And then they hug, and it's kind of sweet. But it's like, and I think that was a great conversation because you know, like a lot of people are like, you gotta have your rebound and stuff. You need to get out there and get laid. And it's like I've never felt that way. Never it would never work. Yeah, I've never done that. Really felt that way. I'm usually like, I don't know, I just want to watch the movie her 15 times and try to wait until it actually makes me feel a girlfriend. Until it makes me feel good about relationships instead of bad about relationships. So at a social party at Jess Marie's apartment, both Harry and Sally have dates. Harry winces when Julian kisses Sally and Sally notices, but tries to ignore Harry kissing a much younger, naive Emily. That night, as Harry resists but then superstitiously reads the last page of Robert London's The Icarus agenda, Sally telephones distressed after learning that her former lover is planning to get married. Harry arrives at Sally's apartment to comfort her. Dressed in a bathrobe, she is sobbing, hysterical mess of emotions and overacting over the news of her loss of Joe, and she blames her own controlling uh like her own control uh compulses, I don't know what to say, uh, for losing him. The kicker is he's getting to a woman, the kicker is he's getting married to a woman he just met, one of the like like after a couple like months, right? And she was and he was together so long for her, and like the fact that it's like, what's wrong with me? Why didn't he want to marry me? But now, like on a whim, he's marrying this one girl. This is something that's done a lot in rom-coms. Like this like plot line, like little section is put into so many rom-coms. Like, he married her, but why not me? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um uh it's just like throwing tissues behind her, yeah, while walking around there. Yeah, and I love it.
SPEAKER_00:And it's like it's like I really love that he's you can tell like how much he's matured emotionally and what we think so far until he ruins it all in the next scene.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But that like he's generally there for her because he cares for it, and he's like, I want you to have tissues because I know you're gonna cry and you're just gonna be all over the place. And it's just like a very sweet moment for Harry. Um and like I think that he truly just finds her as a friend at the moment, right? And they just do they kiss normally, just like us. They they seem like they're fine like with kissing, but I think that's because they secretly like each other, and it's like they're essentially already dating, they just haven't said it. It's like we don't want to put turn it's almost like they don't want to put uh you know a label on their relationship, right? Put some stink on it. They're about to put some stink on it. If you know what I mean. I do. Um, but she does have this uh this brutal line. The truth is he didn't want me, he didn't love me. And it's like but sometimes that's like the truth. Like, why some people won't get married? It's like it's like did they truly love you? No, yeah, right. So during her cryfest, Harry Sue Sally hurt when she begins to irrationally lament herself and her age. I'm gonna be 40. Yeah, but in eight years. Charlie Chaplin had babies when he was 73. Yeah, but he couldn't pick them up. Oh man. Oh, it's just like, I don't know, the line, I'm gonna be 40, yeah, but in eight years. And then the Charlie Chaplin line, like it's so good. It is weird having kids at that old that old. Yeah, it's like because uh Robert Janeiro had kids like a couple years ago, and it's like, are you fucking kidding me, Robert? I call him by his first name, we're buds. Um, but like I love when he says, Yeah, but he couldn't pick him up, and then it's like because Meg Ryan's so good, like she like her turn from cry to laugh, and it's like, oh, you could just the chemistry is so strong in that scene, it's great. I don't know. I just love it. Like her turn from cry to laugh is like a covalent bond. Yeah. Um so Harry gives her a hug to assure her that she will be fine. When he suggests leaving to make some tea, she asks him to be held a little longer, and then she approaches for a kiss. Her hunger for more affection leads to their sleeping together. Because at first they kiss and they're like, Yeah, this is what we wanted. But after winding up in bed and making love with Sally, who spots a big grin on her face in the next scene, Harry can only stare straight ahead, stunned by the surprise but horrifying experience. Apparently, it's like, chill out, dude. While she's in the kitchen getting water and drinking and just having like, ah, I just had a great experience. We finally did this one thing we both wanted to do. He was reminded of her um like compulsive nature almost to like have everything kind of perfect when he rifles through her index card box with all of her videotapes alphabet alphabetized. Fuck off, Harry. You wanted this, she wanted this, y'all obviously know y'all should be together, but you just he is scared. He's just not quite mature enough yet.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, of having another relationship.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, and I I can that's definitely what it is. But and I he just needed this moment, I think, to lose her for a little bit to realize like shit, what am I doing? I'm an idiot, right? Um, so the next morning when Sally awakens, Harry's getting dressed and wants to leave. I gotta go home. I gotta change my clothes, and then I have to go to work, and so do you. But after work, I'd like to have take you to dinner if you're free, and it's just like you're talking like friends, y'all this had sex. How about this? This sit and it's like, hey, we should talk about this later, you know? But I do have to get to work. Like, um, I'll give you a call a little later, okay? Not just like, um Me not know what say me can't get out a situation fast enough. So after Harry departs, both Marie and Jess receive separate phone calls from Harry at a payphone and Sally in bed in a four-way shot of all them on screen. I love it. I fucking love this scene. I love Marie and Jess. Yeah, they're funny. Love them. It's like the best friend, like friends that turn into a couple in a rom-com ever. It's like because you root for them and it's like, we love the friends. Um so Marie and Jess listen to simultaneously reditions of the previous night's love making. They're relieved and overjoyed that they did it.
SPEAKER_02:They did it.
SPEAKER_00:It's like, what? Who's that? It's like, oh, it's the TV. So when the call is finished, Marie asks Jess, tell me I never have to be out there again. Because like they, you know, they're like, oh, what does this mean we're in a relationship? This is terrible. And like, she's like, tell me we never have to do this ever again. Hell yeah. Uh both Harry and Sally describe their second thoughts about moving from a platonic relationship to a sexual one and overlapping dialogue. The sex was good. But then Harry felt suffocated, had to let had to get out of there. Sally felt abandoned. You just disappeared. I'm so embarrassed. As Sally puts on her makeup in front of a bathroom mirror as Harry showers in the bathroom, they express similar reactions and voiceovers. Sally, I'll just wait. I'll just say we made a mistake. I just hope I get to say it first. Harry, Sally, it was a mistake. I hope she says it before I do. Just because Sally is more emotional and mature. So that night at dinner, both agree we just never should have done it. Mutually relieved, they both silently eat and noisily chew mixed green salads. Later, Harry confines the gist as they're power walking in the park about how his friendly familiarity with Sally made their sex an afterthought. Harry didn't know what they were supposed to talk about after sex because they've already talked about all of it. Dang.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's that's a good point.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, remember? Hey, remember? I don't know. He's so funny and witty, you can just be like, Hell yeah, brother. That was a nice set. I don't know. It's just like you're but he just can't get out of his own head of like what he previous thought about sex and relationships with friends and how it's completely different. Yeah, and how it's completely different. But hey, you know, sometimes when you're you get in a relationship with someone, you get to have sex with someone that's your friend because you guys love each other and you should be together, right?
SPEAKER_01:Then you just we should just go play video games together.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's what me and Allie do. So as Marie is fitted to for her wedding dress in a department story, Sally asks about her recent dating partner who's described as thin, pretty, big tits, your basic nightmare. Love it. And then at the wedding reception following the marriage of Marie and Jess with Harry as best man and Sally as maid of honor, three weeks after their sexual night together, Sally is uncomfortable and wants to forget being involved with Harry. Harry, why can't we get past this? I mean, are we gonna carry this thing forever? Sally, forever. It just happened. Harry, it happened three weeks ago. You know how a year to a person is like seven years to a dog? Sally, yes, is one of us supposed to be a dog in this scenario? Harry, yes. Sally, who is the dog? Harry, you are Sally. I am, I'm the dog. Harry, uh-huh. Fuck off, Harry. Sally, don't get back with him. It should have stopped. This is where that is the conversation. You're like, I will never talk to him again. He just called me a dog after we had sex. Mm-hmm. Wow. Honestly, I kind of forget about that side. Because I'm always like, yeah, I mean, it's fine. They got back together. They just needed a little more emotional maturity. And then I hear that line, I'm like, fuck off, Harry. But then he has a great speech at the end, and I'm like, it makes sense. So Sally senses that she was treated like all the other his all his other women when he walked out right out the door. Sprinted is more like it, foolishly defending himself to make things perfectly straight. Harry asserts, I did not go over there that night to make love to you. That is not why I went there. But you looked up at me, those big weepy eyes. Don't go home tonight, Harry. Hold me a little longer, Harry. What was I supposed to do? Interpreting his love as pity, she says, Fuck you, and slaps him across the face to dissolve their friendship.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know if I like the term uh weepy eyes, because usually that's what you say about a wound. A festering wound. A weepy wound? Yeah, weeping. That means it's like gooing. Like I had never heard that before.
SPEAKER_00:I've always heard it's like, stop your weeping. But yeah, uh it's just like, you know, Harry, you just said all the wrong things in this whole conversation. What was I supposed to do? Just like say no. It's like, if you didn't want to have sex. Yeah, Harry. But you wanted to have sex because you're in love with her. You just can't get past your own insecurities. So as they barge back into the wedding reception, they interrupt the toast being made to them by Jess. We would like to thank Harry and Sally. If we found them remotely attractive, we would not be here today. So good. And they're like, I wish they never got together because we would have never met. So after buying a Christmas tree uh during the next year's holiday season, Sally struggles by herself to bring it back to her apartment. Harry leaves a message on Sally's answering machine reminding her of the season of charity and forgiveness. It's also this evening of groveling. Sally repeatedly refuses to pick up the phone to talk to Harry, not wanting to reunite with her former friend. When they finally do talk briefly, Harry calls to say sorry, and Harry proposes going to Tyler's party for New Year's, but Sally wants nothing to do with him.
SPEAKER_01:Why does she say that she's not a consolation prize? Was that ever brought like, was that a did they ever talk about that?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I guess it was like all the uh like talk about um, I guess because like, oh, I don't want to just be like the next girl you're with after your wife. It's like I want you to be with me because you're not just sad. I want you to be with me because you actually want to ble be with me, which he convinces her later with his big speech. Yeah. Um a forlorn Harry watches television uh 16th Annual New York New Year's Rock and Eve, hosted by Dick Clark, RIP, while eating Malamars. Across town at a lavish New Year's Eve party in a hotel, Sally has been reluctantly dragged by Marie to the festive set festivities, is unhappily dancing with a man, rationalizing that it's the perfect time to catch up on my window shopping. Uh Harry walks the streets of New York all by himself, finds himself under the Washington Square Arch where Sally dropped him off uh at the car of the car ride 12 years earlier. In a voiceover flashback during a montage of images, he imagines their earlier conversation about the sex part always gets in the way of a friendship between men and women. Um, Harry pace quickens as he begins to make a race through Manhattan toward a formal party to make it before midnight. Painfully lonely, after ditching her date, Sally decided has decided to leave before midnight. The thought of not kissing somebody is just Then Harry rushes in, sweaty and dressed in jeans, looking for Sally. When he finds her, he professes his undying love for you. Um, Sally. Or Harry, I love you. Sally, how do you expect me to respond to this? Harry, how about you love me too? Sally, how about I'm leaving? Doesn't what I said mean anything to you? I'm sorry, Harry. I know it's New Year's Eve. I know you're feeling lonely, but you just can't show up here telling me you love me. How does it work? I don't know, but not this way. Harry, how about this way? I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like that like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes, and I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. Sally, you see, this is what this is just like you, Harry. You say things like that and you make it impossible for me to hate you. And I hate you, Harry. I really hate you. I hate you. And then they kiss. Such a good scene, though. Oh, it's like perfect rom-com shit. It's like A plus rom-com. Uh they kiss and kiss. Harry attempts to describe the meaning of a song.
SPEAKER_01:Uh, the Oh, so he's like back to the being best friends again immediately.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's just like it's just, it's very, it's so him, right? It's like, oh, this big emotional moment. It's like, what the hell does this song mean? It's me when I'm watching commercials. Like, what the fuck is this trying to say?
SPEAKER_01:Oddlang Zion? Yeah. I have no, I still don't know what it means.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so they kiss again as the camera pulls away from them, showing them engulfed by others on the dance floor. And voiceover, they remember their uh route towards falling in love and acknowledging that romance and friendships are mutually exclusive. In the final scene, they become the film's fifth and final testimony to love, seated on the same love seat as all the other couples. Uh, Sally, three months later, we got married. Man, it only took three months. Woman, 12 years and three months. Man, we had this. We had a really wonderful wedding. Woman or Sally, it really was. Harry, it was great. We had enormous coconut cake. Sally, huge coconut with the tears. It was very rich sauce on the side. Right. Because particularly the coconut soaks up a lot of the stuff that you really want. It's important to keep it on the side, Harry. Right. And that's when Harry met Sally. Oh, so cool. I'm so in love. I love love.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, we should make a um a rom-com about crabs that get together, mate once, and then lay eggs and die. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:We cry at the end and everything, and it'll be great.
SPEAKER_01:Millions of crab babies walk away.
SPEAKER_00:What's the point of the movie? To have crab babies and walk away.
SPEAKER_01:Uh yeah, do the crab walk. No, I think uh the point is that they people should be friends.
SPEAKER_00:People should be friends and then have sex and then like not worry about it.
SPEAKER_01:People who who love each other should also be friends.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, it's yeah, this movie, the point of the movie is love, baby. I think it's about how love can ultimately cut through all the bullshit, right? Like we all have hang-ups about life and the feelings you have about love. Sally was this very particular person who was more uh quiet and not wanting to make a scene, as Harry was the darker guy that thought, who cares about anything, so I can be loud and say whatever I want. But by the end of the by by the end, they kind of changed each other. Their love made Sally less shy and scared of yelling in a diner. Harry became more sensitive and compassionate. They just need to uh loosen each other up. Uh, and then like they just need to Oh, and then that they just kind of needed to lose each other to realize like, oh fuck, this is well, Harry just kind of needed to lose, like, oh wait, no, this was actually something real. And to realize that the love for each other changed them for the good. Hell yeah. I kind of bumbled it at the end. But you know, that's me on coffee talking. Yeah. So we want to hear what you guys think the point is. Let us know. And we're gonna hit up our next category, the good, the bad, the ugly, the fine. It's where we discuss something we liked about the film, the good, something we didn't like, the bad, the ugly, something we didn't think aged well, the fine, something that did age well. My good is Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, their friendship was really cute.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It was entertaining. They were they had great chemistry, they were both funny, and they're great actors.
unknown:I think.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. What do you got?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's it. I just said it. You're like this movie. The bad thing. Billy Crystal without a beard. Billy Crystal and that wig. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:That's pretty much all I got. No. His body. Everything else. Everything else worked. I like I didn't really dislike him without the beard that much, but that uh that wiggle at the beginning was rough. It was rough. It was rough. It made him look like uh ugly Michael Keaton. For my ugly, um, I got that people wrote this movie in as being a typical rom-com when it's actually the film that started the modern rom com. Yeah. That's all I got for the ugly. I really like the movie, so I don't really have much bad to say.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't think there's really anything ugly about it. Um a lot of people's opinions on uh what love is supposed to be is bad.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean it's completely it's it's completely depending on each person.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's it's definitely uh one-sided for a lot of people. Yeah. And this whole like red pill shit going on right now. Yeah. Y'all deserve it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. You just you just have to find someone that's like like-minded enough, but also just slightly different than you, but in that but like you guys can just work, you know? You just like the good parts of you counteract the bad parts of the other person, have the good parts of that person counteract the bad parts of the other person, and it all works out in the middle, then you live forever playing Nintendo's failure and watching Survivor. So, uh, for the fine, I put the rom was perfected by Noah Efron, who wrote the screenplay, and Rob fucking Reiner, the legend, the king, the big old teddy bear. That I love to watch yelling teddy bear. Yelling in movies and TV shows. He's a great yeller in when acting. Um, but yeah, that's my fine. Um, got anything else? No, not really. So we'll move on to our double feature. It's what we recommend a movie to go alongside this movie. I picked the holidays because the holiday, because we can't talk about romantic conedies during the holidays without mentioning the queen of uh um rom-coms and filming kitchens, Nancy Myers. Oh, nice. But yeah, the holidays um it's like I like that movie. It's very funny. Uh, it's a little too long, but um, the stuff with Cameron Diaz and Jude Law, fucking great. Uh Jack Black's in it. He's kind of crazy. Um, and what's her name's in it? Kate Winslit, yeah. Uh the Kate Winslit and Jack Black one, I'm not like super hyped up on that section of it, but it is like fun and cute. But man, when Jude Law and when Cameron Diaz meets Jude Law's kids, they're the fucking cutest British ass kids you'll ever find. And uh it's just a great little like picture. It's just like uh it's just like a great little like holiday rom-com that's very sweet and I love it.
SPEAKER_01:So what you got? Uh I want to say one of my favorite scenes from a romantic comedy, I'm gonna recommend uh Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. I was actually thinking about recommending that because I was like, that is straight up a rom-com.
SPEAKER_01:And my favorite part is when he plays his Dracula opera. Yes. I fucking love it. Yes. I guess so good.
SPEAKER_00:That's what that's like out of like all the like, you know, that was around the Apatow era of films and things like that. And it's probably like my favorite out of all of them. Like super bad and all those is probably my favorite. Cool. That is our conclusion of when Harry met Sally. Jason, it's the holiday season. We don't really have time to record, so I think we should take a week off from recording a movie. Oh, great. Though Dakota may come by and we may film a little like our uh just because he's gonna come by and we're gonna do our Christmas gifts and stuff. Um, so we may do like a top five like movies if that's okay with you guys. I don't get jealous. Yeah, okay. It's just gonna be like, oh, we can kind of put that like in between like the weeks we're not gonna do a movie since he's coming over soon and we don't really have time to really. I'd assume you probably got a lot of stuff to do. Yeah, I got kids and stuff. Next week we got it's gonna be New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so we're not really gonna have a time to do that. New Year's Steve. New Year's Steve, yeah. Good one. So, but in two weeks, come back to listen to us because we're gonna do a month-long version of movies that are the same movies, but a little different. We're gonna do Dante's Peak first. That movie fucking rules. And after that, we're doing Volcano, that movie. I have negative thoughts about it. Then we're gonna do Armageddon. Remember loving it. Don't know if I still do. And then we're gonna do Deep Impact, much better than Armageddon. But listen to and subscribe and see what our thoughts are about those movies. I love it. I'm not gonna lie, even though I have negative opinions about two of those movies and the other two I love, um, they're still kind of fucking fun. Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_01:Tommy Lou Jones is wild and volcano.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and uh Armageddon is just like, hey, you want to see a movie with the dumbest possible things happen every five minutes? There it is, baby. Off the wall. So join us in a couple weeks when we do that. Next week, we may have a top five episode for you. So we'll see. Um let's end this podcast, Jason, because the battery's about to die. Oh, so I'm gonna talk really fast. You guys are like, you're just now gonna start. You've been doing it. So hey, leave us a review. Okay, just leave us a review for the holiday season. Give us the gift of your voice. Also, uh, just leave us some fan mail. I already told you how to do that, so just do that. Um, but yeah, uh, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year's, even though this episode's coming out after Christmas. So I shouldn't have said Christmas, but have a good New Year's. Okay. Okay. Have one. 2026, baby. Kiss somebody. Everything's gonna be better. Probably not. Everything's gonna be exactly the same because it's just the calendar turning. But all over the place, baby. All over the place. My dog tried to kill a cat today. I don't know what else I'm supposed to do. This is where I'm at. The cat poop was actually more stressful because he wouldn't drink water, he just kept licking the floor. And it's like, no, yeah. So I had to wipe up the floor. Anyways, thank you, Joey Prosser, for intro and outro music. You can follow him on X at Mr. Joey Proster. And this has been the We Recommend Podcast. I've been Jesse. I'm Jason. Um, I'll podcast what he's podcasting. Bye. Nice.
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