an ode to “When Harry Met Sally”

When harry met sally

“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.”

– Harry Burns.

Last night i was feeling down about being single because i had just hung out with a crapton of happy families and their happy children, so i decided to watch the best, most honest, most inspiring movie ever made in regards to relationships: “When Harry Met Sally.”

cinema sigh.

the movie chronicles the relationship between harry and umm, sally. and how they randomly meet a couple times before finally getting their crap together and falling in love.

and along the way they address some of the common things men and women run into. right off they bat we have them talking about how men and women can never be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.

Sally: So, you’re saying that a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive?

Harry: No. You pretty much want to nail ’em too.

Then we move into the biological clock thing, which as soon-to-be 26-year-old woman, i have to sally’s perspective on the whole thing makes me feel pretty good about life. She claims it doesn’t really start to tick until you’re 36. phew.

and at one point sally and harry are talking about high maintenance women, and harry invents a category for sally that im pretty sure i fall into:

Sally: Which one am I?

Harry: You’re the worst kind; you’re high maintenance but you think you’re low maintenance.

Sally: I don’t see that.

Sally: You don’t see that? Waiter, I’ll begin with a house salad, but I don’t want the regular dressing. I’ll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but on the side. And then the salmon with the mustard sauce, but I want the mustard sauce on the side. “On the side” is a very big thing for you.

Sally: Well, I just want it the way I want it.

Harry: I know; high maintenance.

and throughout the whole movie they play these little clips of couples talking about how they met. and some of them are CRAZY! like this one:

Woman: We feel in love in high school.

Man: Ya, we were high school sweet hearts

Woman: But then after our junior year, his parents moved away.

Man: But i never forgot her.

Woman: He never forgot me.

Man: Her face was burned on my brain.

Man: It was 34 years later when i was walking down broadway and i saw her.

Woman: And we both looked at each other and it was just as though not a single day had gone by.

Man: She was just as beautiful.

Woman: He was just the same. He looked exactly the same.

Umm. holy wow! it took them 34 YEARS to find each other again? and then when they did, they made it work!  that’s nuts people. NUTS!

But the thing i love most about this movie is that all the different love stories (harry and sally, as well as the other ones woven throughout) give me hope that i don’t have live my life like a text book fairytale. that i can have a happy marriage to somebody i meet in an unconventional way. and that people who have ups and downs can come out on the other side mostly up.

now, of course, the BEST scene in the movie, and maybe the best scene ever made: Harry professing his love for sally:

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Comments

  1. A plot summary of a 20-year-old romantic comedy that everyone in the world has already seen? This blog really pushes the envelope.

  2. (Hangs her head in embarrassment)..I haven’t seen this movie. Yet. Even though it’s been out for like 20 years, or something. I know, right?! What is my deal? I’ve had how many PMS days and previous break-ups and never once watched this classic?

    I will. Promise. So that I can come back here and fully appreciate a) your post b) your insanely funny observations about the film and c) the YouTube clip I’m not letting myself watch so it doesn’t spoil a movie I should’ve seen like 10 years ago.

    🙂

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