“When Harry Met Sally” is Rob Reiner’s everlasting message of love – Salon.com
Billy Crystal as Harry Burns and Meg Ryan as Sally Albright in “When Harry Met Sally” (Columbia Pictures)commentary
“When Harry Met Sally” is Rob Reiner’s everlasting message of love
A classic scene written to reflect Reiner’s love for his wife, Michele, embraces a brighter future
By Coleman Spilde, Senior Writer, Published December 17, 2025 12:00PM (EST)
Billy Crystal as Harry Burns and Meg Ryan as Sally Albright in “When Harry Met Sally” (Columbia Pictures)It’s almost time for the page to turn again. Whether we like it or not, time marches on, the year comes to a close and we reflect on everything that’s happened. It’s a time for old friends, new loves, and speaking to our feelings so that we don’t dare carry a single burden into another year.
Needless to say, shaking off 2025 will require quite a bit of verbal blotting. The year has felt like a century, at best, and just when things were supposed to wind down and get quiet, a weekend of tumult and tragedy reminded the world just how much we’re suffering.
An antisemitic massacre during a Hanukkah celebration at Australia’s Bondi Beach. A shooting at Brown University killed two students and injured nine others. And, late Sunday night, the horrific, violent deaths of Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, purportedly at the hands of their son, Nick. The extent of the horror is indescribable, and it’s occurring on a global scale. And, yes, it often feels as though the weight of it is too much to bear. All we’re left with is confusion and the frustrating feeling of helplessness. We are at our wits’ end. There is no more avoiding, no more pretending. Something has got to change as soon as possible.
There’s something to that. I don’t mean to sound trite or wilfully glib, but it’s merely the truth that every ending is followed by a beginning. Reiner’s seminal film “When Harry Met Sally” is full of them — beginnings and endings, false starts and full stops. It’s a movie for dreamers, realists and romantics alike, the kind of film that’s so fantastic and so painfully human that its brilliant existence is reason enough to believe in good things. Reiner’s filmography was full of these gems, with stunners like “Stand By Me” and “The Princess Bride” that defined not just their era but people’s entire lives.
(Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for TCM) Rob Reiner, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal attend The 30th Anniversary Screening of “When Harry Met Sally…” on April 11, 2019 in Hollywood, California.Loving openly and candidly shouldn’t feel like a radical act, but in a world proliferated with violence and hatred, it’s become one.
“When Harry Met Sally,” however, is a special kind of classic. It’s no mere comfort watch, and certainly no chick flick. It’s a film for autumn, winter, spring and summer, just as much of a Christmas and New Year’s movie as it is a Valentine’s Day or anniversary movie. In its bones, there is a deep, true love that is the result of a close working relationship with screenwriter Nora Ephron, stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, and Reiner’s wife, Michele, whom he met and fell in love with during production. Their passion incited a change of the film’s ending, and in turn, one of the all-time great professions of love ever captured on film — a change of fate, right at the stroke of midnight. Call it lightning in a bottle. Call it evidence of magic. Call it a kernel of hope to hold onto as we turn the page.
Related, The questions “When Harry Met Sally” make us consider today
In Kristin Marguerite Doidge’s 2022 biography of Ephron, the author peers into the fascinating details behind Ephron and Reiner’s long-gestating film, which began as an idea tossed toward Ephron from Reiner after a few lunch meetings. It was over those meals where Ephron became intrigued with the way Reiner talked about his bachelorhood. His anecdotes would become the basis for Crystal’s character, Harry, while Ryan’s witty foil, Sally, was the embodiment of Ephron’s sharp and observant eye. “This is a talk piece,” Reiner said about the film in 1985. “There are no chase scenes, no food fights. This is walks, phones, restaurants, movies.”
Editor’s Note: Movie information below, a new feature from DWD. –DrWeb
When Harry Met Sally... Plot: Sex always gets in the way of friendships between men and women. At least, that's what Harry Burns believes. So when Harry meets Sally Albright and a deep friendship blossoms between them, Harry's determined not to let his attraction to Sally destroy it. But when a night of weakness ends in a morning of panic, can the pair avoid succumbing to Harry's fears by remaining friends and admitting they just might be the perfect match for each other? The Movie DB: 7.404/10 Information Runtime: 96 min Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama Language: English Country: United States of America Budget: $16,000,000 Revenue: $92,823,546 Homepage: Release date: July 12 1989A talk piece, indeed. While it’s Ephron’s characteristically strong dialogue and flair for realism that so many viewers fall head over heels for, Reiner’s blissfully simplistic direction is what captures the spark of two people slowly falling in love. Across years, Reiner follows Harry and Sally from their first meeting during a long-haul drive after college through their reconnection and eventual friendship and flirtation. There are long walks and even longer talks, conversations in book stores, on the leaf-strewn concrete sidewalks of a bygone era of New York City and, of course, on the phone.
Ephron based the late-night phone conversations between Sally and Harry on Reiner’s frequent talks with Crystal, when the two would watch something on television together and provide commentary throughout. From Sally’s overly particular restaurant orders to Harry’s shock that women fake orgasms, all of it came out in the development process between Ephron and Reiner, and made it into the script. “When Harry Met Sally” rings so true because there isn’t a single false note in its lovely sonata.
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