F-O-X

You've Got Mail was on HBO this afternoon. Nicole and I have seen this movie so many times, we can accurately recite lines from the script. We have actual, meaningful conversations using quotes.

Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, masters of The Romantic Comedy, are in their element. Only Meg Ryan and her signature nose-wrinkling can pull off saying things like "Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower?" without sounding ridiculous. And Tom Hanks as Joe Fox makes a lovable capitalist.

The comfort factor of this movie, to me, is extremely high. It is shot in a laid-back New York where people spend lots of time in parks and coffee shops. Many of the scenes take place during the day when the sun is out and the world is at its brightest. Also, no one seems to be working. The main characters own bookstores, places I consider fixed points when my world is spinning. I like how they smell.

Books close to my heart are also seen here. In one scene, Meg Ryan's Kathleen reads Roald Dahl's Boy to a group of children for Storybook Lady Hour.


Towards the end of the movie, when Joe and Kathleen talk about what their relationship would be like if they hadn't been at war, I think of Lem. We would never fight about what movie to rent on a Saturday night.