How 'When Harry Met Sally' Made Me Love Movies

I don't even remember the first time I saw "When Harry Met Sally." I'm sure it was at the cool best friend's house when I was in grade school; that's how I saw almost every movie I love now. "When Harry Met Sally" was a movie I picked up just because Carrie Fisher was in it - I was in the midst of a Star Wars obsession. Even then, I loved words, and wordplay, but "When Harry Met Sally" was the first time I realized that movies were a wonderful way to experience words. It's sounds funny, but I've always felt like well-written words are like a Swedish massage for the brain, and "When Harry Met Sally" was the first time I felt like a movie moved into the realm formerly completely dominated by books.

"When Harry Met Sally" also raised my awareness of what is commonly called Talking Heads in movies. It's something most scripts can't successfully manage: a conversation between two people with nothing else happening around them. Ever since I saw the successful executions in "When Harry Met Sally," I notice when a scriptwriter has written dialog that isn't as natural.

"When Harry Met Sally" was also one of the first Man Vs. Woman movies that I ever saw. There is a constant gender-based banter between the characters, with blunt conversations about relationships and sex that I hadn't experienced beforehand. It was eye-opening, after years of (again) only seeing that in books.

The growth of Harry and Sally's relationship is another part of the movie that fascinates me even now. It's not a boy meets girl and they fall in love story. It's messy, they don't start out together, and their relationship isn't perfect. As people, Harry is insensitive and Sally is neurotic. These are people you could meet, people who you can believe in. Neither is incredible, they have problems, they have breakups, divorces, and horrible blind dates. While it has a happy ending, it's not a totally happy story.

"When Harry Met Sally" stars Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal, Carrie Fisher, and Bruno Kirby. It was released in 1989, directed by Rob Reiner, and written by Nora Ephron.