You’ve Got Mail (1998) Review

 

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

You’ve Got Mail follows two rival bookstore owners, Kathleen and Joe, who unknowingly fall in love through an anonymous online chatroom, oblivious of the others identity. When Joe finds out the truth though, he must put aside his real world feelings in favor of the online-based love he has come to feel. 

In this modern retelling of The Shop Around the Corner, You’ve Got Mail takes the original concept and updates it for the “modern”, technological age, this time, transporting us to the idyllic city of unconventional love, New York. It’s here that we meet Kathleen, the owner of a quaint little children’s bookstore, and Joe, who owns a larger chain bookstore across the street, putting her business in jeopardy. The twist though? They are unknowingly falling in love through an anonymous chatroom. 

Now, while it feels pretty dated now, You’ve Got Mail is such a sweet little time capsule to a time, especially in the technological era we’re in now, where you looked forward to the brief reprieves you got from life to go on the internet, and in the case of Kathleen and Joe, fall hopelessly in love with an idea of a person, free of all preconceived notions. It also wonderfully subverts expectations by only letting Joe in on the truth, forcing him to take a step back and adds a lot more depth and care to his approach towards their relationship from that moment on, allowing him to put aside business for once and be personal towards a woman he has come to love.

We get a lovely cast, starring Parker Posey, Dabney Coleman, Jean Stapleton, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns, Dave Chappelle, Greg Kinnear, Tom Hanks, and Meg Ryan. While Hanks is obviously Hanks, in all of his sarcastic, fly by the seat of your pants charm, it’s Ryan, who radiates so much warmth, knowledge, and self worth, that it’s impossible not to connect with her and find a little more joy in the little things because of her absolutely lovely performance. 

You’ve Got Mail, directed by Nora Ephron, is about as cookie cutter a romance flick as they come but it’s interesting premise of rivals in life but lovers online is particularly charming, especially as technology progresses far past this little film. 

7.8/10