Friends for ever When Harry Met Sally 1989 | 95mins | dir: Rob Reiner | starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan | 11.05pm, C4, Saturday 22 May reviewed by Lebby Eyres [email] uploaded: 17-05-2004 Can men and women ever be friends? Not according to Harry and Sally... Sally and Harry meet cute It’s always good when movies state their case right at the outset. In When Harry Met Sally, a long car journey between the two main protagonists, Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) makes it crystal clear that what we are all supposed to be thinking about all the way through the movie is Can Men and Women Ever Just Be Friends? Harry is of the opinion that they can’t, because sex gets in the way – as he puts it, you even want to “nail” your unattractive female buddies. Sally, who is clearly a Nice Girl, is shocked and horrified to find that men can be so brutally base, and the pair part on bad terms. The question is, will Harry and Sally meet again a few years later, become friends, have sex, and find that Men and Women Can’t Ever Just Be Friends? Well, seeing as it’s a good 15 years since this film was released, we don’t feel like we’re spoiling anything by saying of course they will. It’s just that it’s quite good fun watching them getting there. And that’s really the point of When Harry Met Sally. When two cute leads meet cute in the first few minutes of a movie, that also features cute old couples talking about their relationship, you’re in no doubt about how it’s all going to wind up. But at least this movie makes it interesting getting there – we have the infamous “I’ll have what she’s having” scene, the false starts and the definitely not glamorous parallel relationship of Harry and Sally’s best friends, played by Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher. Mainstream romantic comedies have fallen on hard times recently, with glib cheese fests starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Lopez and Sandra Bullock the order of the day. When Harry Met Sally might not be high class cinema, but it certainly beats the hell out of The Wedding Planner and its ilk. Best quote: "Had my dream again where I'm making love, and the Olympic judges are watching. I'd nailed the compulsories, so this is it, the finals. I got a 9.8 from the Canadians, a perfect 10 from the Americans, and my mother, disguised as an East German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount" Harry Burns rating: 7/10 Good scripts, smart acting – definitely worth a visit if you've never managed to catch it before [Fight Club]