The recollection fuses with my feelings and the character's feelings and creates something new and transformative. In the rewatching, I realized I'd filled in words where there are only facial expressions from phenomenal performances by Hanks and especially Ryan. All the ways the characters have described love throughout the film coalesce into magical silence between Annie and Sam.
But there's nothing as iconic, which is somehow better. I always think there's a line here, sometimes confusing Meg Ryan's "I wanted it to be you" from You've Got Mail. The three of them finally gather just as the observatory is closing Sam and Annie gaze at each other, nostalgia and newness overwhelming them. Jonah, meanwhile, has flown across the country unaccompanied to meet her himself, with Sam fast on his tail. Annie has waited at the top of the Empire State Building for Sam all day, not realizing it's Jonah who set up the plan. I have to believe it's what Rita Wilson would want.Īs much as I love Wilson's extraordinary scene in the middle of Sleepless in Seattle, I must admit my favorite comes at the very end. Will I, after Easter, commandeer the FM broadcaster so I can host my own radio call-in show connecting Sams and Annies across the nation? Absolutely. And so he reached back into the past, ordering an FM broadcaster online and announcing that on two of the most joyful days in the church's year, the congregation will come together, ensconced in cars, for drive-in church. It's possible to do both virtually, of course, but he wanted a stronger connection. However, it's become clear it won't be safe to worship together in person for months, past Palm Sunday and Easter. But it worked, and everyone stepped into the future together. To wit, my husband is a pastor, and last week his church switched to virtual worship, which posed a logistical challenge in educating a congregation that spans many demographics on the ins and outs of Zoom and Facebook Live. And who amongst us isn't rediscovering the telephone during this time, when even small distances seem yawning? Or the simple pleasure of a mailed letter? (Thank you to all the Post Office employees!) After a grueling three years during which the dark underbelly of nostalgia was used to prop up the worst aspects of this country's history and present, it's particularly heartening to be reminded that sometimes, the hallmarks of the past can continue to help us. Though we've moved on to new forms of connection, there's something sweet and appealing about the relative simplicity-even simplicity in a film with a plot as complex as this one's. The plot hinges on landlines and live radio shows, letters and, late in the film, a computer at a travel agency that's not password-protected. In the years since its release, even the experience of watching the 1993 film has become a journey into nostalgia. 'Notting Hill' Appreciates the Joy of Staying Home.In 'The Holiday,' Home Is Wherever You Are.Going To Extremes In 'My Best Friend's Wedding'.He tells his sister Becky (the divine Rita Wilson) and her husband (Victor Garber) about it over dinner. Anyway, when Sam finds out about Jonah's plan, Sam is vehemently in the "no ma'am" camp. But also, it's so romantic, so yes ma'am, with caveats. Annie takes PTO from her job as a journalist, flies across the country, and shows up at a stranger's house! No ma'am. Let's pause here to say that in terms of rom-com hijinks and poor decisions that turn out great, nothing beats Sleepless in Seattle.
Annie heard the show and wrote to Sam, and Jonah wrote back posing as his father and asking Annie to meet him at the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. Unbeknownst to Sam, his son Jonah (Ross Malinger) has provided a radio psychologist with Sam's address, after Jonah and Sam called into the show to talk about love, grief, and magic.
Twice in passing, he sees Annie (Meg Ryan), who has just arrived in Seattle on a semi-quixotic journey to meet Sam. However, it requires some context: Just prior to the scene, Sam (Tom Hanks), a father who lost his wife a year and a half earlier, has just come back from the airport. But if pressed, we'd all likely come up with the same answer. It's hard to pick the best scene in Sleepless in Seattle, a jewel of a film co-written and directed by Nora Ephron.