Date: Fri 08-Jan-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Ephron-Hanks-Ryan-Playing

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING: Ephron Is Clever With Pairing In `Mail,' But Too Formulary

By Trey Paul Alexander III

If I didn't already know writer-director Nora Ephron was a big-city gal, born

and raised in the Big Apple, I would have bet the farm she was raised in the

country because, as a director, she sure knows how to milk it. As the guiding

hand behind You've Got Mail , she goes deep into her bag of tricks to induce

audiences to swoon over this romantic comedy, her second teaming with Tom

Hanks and Meg Ryan (she directed Sleepless in Seattle ) and the screen duo's

third pairing (they first worked together in Joe Versus the Volcano ).

Ephron is a gifted writer who began her career as a journalist before penning

the scripts for such films as Silkwood and When Harry Met Sally . She then

teamed with her sister, Delia, on her following efforts, which include the

screenplays for Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail . Ephron has an

uncanny knack for commentary on relationships, and her instincts as a writer

are keen. For example, instead of turning her latest into a strict remake of

classy director Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 gem, The Shop Around the Corner -- which

would have been an unenviable task -- she cleverly only loosely bases her

update on Lubitsch and instead smartly focuses on the concept that two people,

who despise each other in person, could be soul mates as anonymous pen pals.,

Whereas Lubitsch's film was more concerned with a complete, rounded cast of

characters, a community within a corner shop, Ephron enhances the relationship

of the two characters and moves them front and center.

Hanks plays Joe Fox, a shrewd businessman who heads a chain of mega-bookstores

that are taking the nation by storm. His newest location is opening on the

Upper West Side of New York City and it threatens the very survival of a

quaint children's book shop owned by Kathleen Kelly (Ryan), a neighborhood

fixture whose late mother previously owned and ran the store. As Kelly rolls

up her sleeves to do battle with corporate goliath Fox, she is unaware that he

is also the charming, sensitive and insightful chap with whom she has been

chatting online. So, while Fox and Kelly spar each time they meet

face-to-face, "NY152" and "Shopgirl" make nice-nice in the land of cyberspace.

There is nary a more charming, engaging contemporary onscreen pair than Hanks

and Ryan (all apologies to Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and Michael Douglas

and Kathleen Turner), and Ephron is wise to have them drive the film and its

still-piquant central twist. Yet her directorial intuition is not as sharp as

her gift with the pen. She fails to completely trust the combustible chemistry

of her stars and instead gilds the lily by overstuffing her soundtrack with

transparently chosen oldies and standards designed to make us weep or feel

joy. She also pairs Fox and Kelly with ill-matched mates (well played,

especially given their material, by Parker Posey and Greg Kinnear,

respectively) that again have us wondering, what do they see in these people?

These are the same tricks she used in Sleepless in Seattle (remember all the

Jimmy Durante tunes and the hapless fiance played by Bill Pullman?) that kept

me from fully enjoying that flick, and makes me hesitate on giving You've Got

Mail the more hearty recommendation it might otherwise garner. Yes, Hanks and

Ryan are adorable, and yes, the movie overall is quite enjoyable -- including

Ephron's crafty use of movie shorthand -- The Godfather is to You've Got Mail

what An Affair To Remember was to Sleepless in Seattle -- and well worth the

price of admission. But why must Ephron fall back on gimmicks? Why does she

too often resort to formula?

You've Got Mail is rated PG. It contains little profanity and suggestiveness

and should be appropriate for most audiences.