The schmaltzy soundtrack is overdone, but cameraman Sven Nykvist wraps it all up in an appropriately warm glow.
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:42
Fresh:31
Rotten:11
Average Rating:6.6/10
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) is a good father and a successful architect. But he's also a lonely widower. One night his precocious 8-year-old son Jonah calls a late-night radio talk show seeking a cure... Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) is a good father and a successful architect. But he's also a lonely widower. One night his precocious 8-year-old son Jonah calls a late-night radio talk show seeking a cure for his father's despondency. When Sam hesitantly takes the phone and discloses the story of his magic-filled marriage, he proves to be a deeply feeling and gentle man. His plight profoundly moves the program's sympathetic female listeners, and thousands of women write in offering to help him `recover' from his mournful insomnia. Recently betrothed Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) is one of the many listeners touched by Sam's story. To complicate matters, she's afraid her upcoming marriage promises stability and security but no excitement. Although Annie's supposed to be driving to her future in-laws' house for the holidays, she knows that she's already fallen in love with Sam and is on the road to destiny. Academy Award Nominations: Best (Original) Screenplay, Best Song ("A Wink and a Smile"). [More]
Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger, Rosie O'Donnell
Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger, Rosie O'Donnell, Bill Pullman, David Hyde Pierce, Rob Reiner, Rita Wilson, Gaby Hoffman
Director: Nora Ephron
Director: Nora Ephron
Screenwriter: Nora Ephron, David S. Ward, Jeff Arch
Reviews for Sleepless in Seattle
Ryan and Hanks, even apart, have the chemistry to make a very agreeable entertainment.
Not one of the cleverer rom-coms of this ilk... but sweet and touching nevertheless and Tom Hanks is always watchable.
Mostly, Sleepless in Seattle leaves you feeling restless in the audience.
If one can ignore all the straining for lightness here, this is watchable enough, though hardly anything resembling a tearjerker.
Ephron and fellow writers Jeff Arch and David S. Ward have conspired to make Sleepless in Seattle as purposefully schmaltzy as one can imagine, in a manner that's almost cynical.
Like most of Ephron's work, this one is shallow, contrived and ineptly directed, but it stars two of America's most likable stars, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks; purists will never forgive Ephron for taking a cheap stab at Love Affair (the Cary Grant version)
Seems too precalculated to be charming and magical, and consequently ends up being overly cute.
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