Sleepless in Seattle

Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, where have we seen this combination before? The answer, for those of you that could not answer this question is 'You've Got Mail' (although this film came first).

Young Tom Hanks is fathering a son, a young boy who has lost his mother and is suffering. Often when these types of bereavement happen the relationship between the child and the parent is almost severed, it is injured and becomes almost non-existent. Jonah doesn't want a new person in his life, he doesn't like the idea of his mother being replaced (which is understandable) and only takes to one person that they haven't met. With constant references to a Carry Grant movie it is a little hard to take this movie as an original but back in the 90's it was popular to create characters that loved films and made constant references to other famous actors. Arguments take place between Jonah and his father as Jonah wants to go to New York, to stand on the top of the Empire State building  and meet his new mother but his father doesn't want to, he wants to go on a weekend away with Victoria (a woman that he is serious about but Jonah doesn't like). Jonah runs off to New York and his father has to follow him. They end up meeting the new woman at the top of the empire state building after another Carry Grant reference.

I was expecting a lot worse. I don't have the best opinion of Tom Hanks in films having felt that he is often the same person or just very irritating but he was different in this film. He wasn't trying to play the hero or romantic, lovable character, he was trying to play a father who is trying to piece his life back together. A man who has responsibilities and doesn't just drink himself into oblivion. The character was strong but not perfect. The portrayal was good and one of the best from Tom Hanks. The Star award probably goes to Jonah (Ross Malinger) as the driving force in the entire film. His character was similar to the one in 'Love Actually' except that he doesn't play the drums and have Liam Neeson for a dad. He was cool, determined and trying to find his own path in life, to make his life complete again. He was prepared to let the right person into his life but he was very clear that the current woman that Sam (Hanks) was interested in wasn't the right person for him.

Meg Ryan was more of a cameo. The plot was almost split between Seattle and New York, between Alice (Ryan) and Sam (Hanks) but even though she had a lot of screen time she wasn't the main focus of the film and that made it a lot easier. Sleepless in Seattle is a moving film, a short enough film to make it enjoyable and not vomitable in any way.