When Harry Met Sally (1989)

All Critics (47) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (4) | DVD (26)

Can a man and a woman be friends without worrying about having sex? Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan spend a beguiling dozen years trying to figure it out.

February 3, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

Fans of Billy Crystal's amphibian qualities may be amused, but the rest of us have to contend with a slavish Woody Allen imitation.

April 1, 2008 Full Review | Comments (4)

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Rob Reiner directs with deftness and sincerity, making the material seem more engaging than it is, at least until the plot machanics begin to unwind and the film starts to seem shapeless.

April 1, 2008 Full Review | Comments (3)

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Reiner clearly likes his characters, and elicits sturdy performances from a proficient cast (Kirby and Fisher are especially fine as friends and confidants to the pair).

June 24, 2006 Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Top Critic

What Harry and Sally do -- the true focus of this often funny but amazingly hollow film -- is saunter through the romanticized lives of intelligent, successful, neurotic New Yorkers.

May 20, 2003 Full Review

Caryn James

New York Times

Top Critic

A ravishing, romantic lark brimming over with style, intelligence and flashing wit.

May 12, 2001

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

...a better-than-average romantic comedy that remains just as relevant now as it did in 1989...

October 10, 2012 Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Sally is special lightning-in-a-bottle stuff that every member of the production has spent precious years of their lives trying to recreate, but always failing miserably.

August 26, 2009 Full Review | Comments (2)

Brian Orndorf

BrianOrndorf.com

This is Ephron at her best.

April 1, 2008 Full Review

Film4

Director Rob Reiner has a killer instinct for setting up jokes and punchlines, and is vastly aided by the performances and chemistry of Crystal and Ryan, as well as crisp supporting work from Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby.

April 1, 2008 Full Review

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Reiner's film breaks the romantic-comedy mold because it's not so much about Harry and Sally as it is about men and women.

January 16, 2008 Full Review

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

What keeps the momentum going, despite the story's predictability, is the dialogue and the chemistry, which makes for a high-wire act.

November 18, 2005 Full Review

Phil Villarreal

Arizona Daily Star

Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan are terrific together in one of the best romantic comedies of the 1980s.

September 16, 2004 Full Review

Thomas Delapa

Boulder Weekly

A classic romantic comedy.

September 10, 2004

John Venable

Supercala.com

Overrated nonsense about two people who would never date in real life.

September 10, 2004 | Comments (12)

Jon Niccum

Lawrence Journal-World

• 1. Older Woman Customer: I'll have what she's having.
  – Submitted by Dutch E (2 months ago)
• 1. Jess: Marriages don't break up on account of infidelity. It's just a symptom that something else is wrong.
  2. Harry Burns: Oh, really? Well, that symptom is fucking my wife!
  – Submitted by Joakim A (2 months ago)
• 1. Harry Burns: Why don't you tell me the story of your life?
  2. Sally Albright: The story of my life?
  3. Harry Burns: We've got eighteen hours to kill before we hit New York.
  4. Sally Albright: The story of my life isn't even going to get us out of Chicago, I mean nothing's happened to me yet. That's why I'm going to New York.
  5. Harry Burns: So something can happen to you?
  6. Sally Albright: Yes.
  7. Harry Burns: Like what?
  8. Sally Albright: I can go into journalism school to become a reporter.
  9. Harry Burns: So you can write about things that happen to other people?
  – Submitted by Joakim A (2 months ago)
• 1. Older Woman Customer: I'll have what she's having.
  – Submitted by Michael B (7 months ago)
• 1. Jess: I like saying its in the den its got a nice ring to it.
  – Submitted by Daniel R (7 months ago)
• 1. Jess: Emily is terrific.
  2. Harry Burns: Ya. Of course when I asked her where she was when Kennedy was shot she said 'Ted Kennedy was shot?'
  – Submitted by Daniel R (7 months ago)

There are no discussion threads for When Harry Met Sally yet.