TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick

My wife is a travel nurse, while I work from home, and our last assignment was near Seattle, WA. While I was in Seattle, I mentioned I’d never seen Sleepless in Seattle. My wife told me I need to watch it, and do a review now that we’ve left the city.

Sleepless in Seattle stars Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, Rosie O’Donnell, and Ross Malinger. The movie came out in 1993 with an approximate budget of 21 million. The movie grossed to about 228 million worldwide. Rotten Tomatoes has their score at 75%, and audience score also at  75%. 

The movie  starts on a sad note where Sam Baldwin, played by Tom Hanks is a widow, as his wife dies of cancer. To get away from the grief and pain of the death, Sam and his eight year old son Jonah move from Chicago to Seattle. We then met Annie Reed played by Meg Ryan, and her fiancée Walter played by Bill Pullman. Walter seems like a great guy, but you can tell from the beginning that something is not fully there, in the relationship. Throughout the movie, she has to convince herself that her engagement is the best thing for her. Months later Sam and Jonah are in Seattle, and Sam is still grieving over his wife. Jonah wants to find a new mom, and a wife for his dad, so he calls into the radio station to talk to help out his dad. Sam ends up talking to the radio show host, and he pours his heart out about his wife, and their relationship. After the interview, thousands of women hear Sam’s story, and fall in love with him, including Annie. 

We then get to see the father/son relationship, as Sam gets hundreds of letters from women across the country. We also see Annie go back and forth with pursuing Sam, and get advice from her level headed friend Becky played by Rosie O’ Donnell. This is the best part of the movie, where there’s so many comedic moments between these relationships. We finally get to the iconic ending scene of both Annie & Sam on top of the Empire State Building. If you’ve never seen the movie, you’ll know that this romantic comedy is completely different from any others. My wife and I wanted to visit the rooftop of the Empire State Building, when we had an assignment outside of NYC,  and reenact scenes from movies and tv, especially when How I Met your Mother mimicked this movie. Unfortunately our dinner that night took way longer than expected, and it was closed by the time we got there. That’s our first priority next time we’re in New York. 

Although I love the relationship between Sam and his son, I sometimes felt I was in a geography class, and not watching a movie, each time Jonah had a letter for his dad.  Obviously we know that Annie would end up with Sam at the end of the movie, but they didn’t have to make Walter into a doormat essentially. We are just supposed to believe that he’s ok with his fiancée being distant, and then when she breaks it off, he’s basically happy for her. When Annie pursues Sam, she’s basically a stalker, even using her newspaper resources to hire a Private Investigator to track Sam. I know this movie was made in 1993, but scenes with heavy computer use does not age well. I think at times they tried finding the oldest telephones that were still usable for the movie. The graphics that were used to display someone traveling was laughable. Reminds me when this did a cheesy version of this in Wayne’s World 2, but at least that was for comedic effect. I was a little concerned for Jonah at times, as he got his friend to get him plane ticket to NYC, and got to the airport by himself, and then to Empire State Building all by himself. No one was concerned for this kid’s well being, while he was getting to the Empire Building by himself. 

Romantic comedies are not usually my go to genre, but I would say this was an enjoyable experience. I can see why this movie is a timeless classic. I actually felt like Rosie O’Donnell stole the show, and her comedic chemistry with Meg Ryan was funny, and touching at the same time. Seattle was a beautiful backdrop, and Sam with a houseboat was a nice touch.  I thought this was an original take on the romantic comedy genre, and everyone should add this to their watch list. What other romantic comedies should I try next? I clearly need good recommendations, if I let a movie like this slip through my movie catalog. I give this movie a 3.7 out of 5.