You've got mail / Du har mail

Snail Mail...

Kathy Kelly (Meg Ryan) is the owner of a popular children's book shop in the fashionable west side of New York. She also enjoys conversing, via Email, with a correspondent whom she only knows as NY152. This correspondent is Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), the owner of Fox Books, a cut price book superstore. His latest branch is opening around the corner from Kathy's shop, and he intends to drive her out of business. Like Kathy, he is unaware of the real identity of his internet soul-mate. Kelly, whose Email moniker is Shopgirl, pours her heart out to NY152, and asks for advice when her business is affected by the superstore. In the real (i.e. non-internet) world, Kathy meets Joe (without knowing his true identity) and likes him. However, once she finds out who he is, she dislikes him intensely. Ironically, as Kathy feels the strain of keeping her business afloat, she becomes more reliant on the friendship and support of NY152, unaware that it is the identity of her nemesis. Eventually, they arrange to meet...

It's hard to imagine what goes through the minds of movie producers when they decide to make a film like this. They take two hugely popular stars, a story which has already been made into a very popular film (The Shop around the Corner, with Jimmy Stewart and directed by Ernst Lubitch in 1940) and what do they do ? Well, they produce a movie so lazily constructed that it's hard to believe that they have anything but contempt for their intended audience. The writers and producers, Delia and Nora (who also directs) Ephron, should know their audience. Responsible for When Harry Met Sally (1989;writer, Nora), Sleepless in Seattle (1993;Nora,director, writer;Delia, associate producer) and Michael, they have helped produce a series of romantic comedies which have all been variations of the same theme. In this case, they don't seem to have anything new to say, so they just give us the same old thing over again.

What is it about so-called chick flicks that makes Hollywood so lazy ? Does Hollywood think that, because the intended audience have two Y chromosomes, they won't notice weak story-lines, lacklustre characterisation, or simple rehashing of other earlier movies. Put a hunk on screen, depict a relationship which doesn't end in a gunfight or cannibalism and female audiences will flock to the cinema in droves out of sheer gratitude (or so the thinking goes). You have mail is a blatant attempt to evoke sentimentality, warmth and emotion without having the common courtesy to entertain as well. It is like one of those Classic Hits radio stations which seem to work on the principle that by playing Sixties or Seventies music, nostalgia will make up for lack of originality.

It would be easy to nit-pick on the depiction of the Internet in the movie, but why bother when the depiction of life in general is so far-fetched (suffice to say, it is a bit unlikely that busy executives spend that much time babbling on the Web). The film is unsure of how to depict Joe Fox:- he begins as a nasty corporate asshole cackling with his father and grandfather as they discuss the liklihood of driving small bookstores out of business. However, two-thirds way through the movie, Fox is unexpectedly transformed from Kelly's adversary to her confidante - there is no explanation for this. It is as if the makers decided,"What the hell - let's just put Hanks and Ryan together and damn the storyline". Suddenly, Kathy Kelly is sharing her deepest thoughts with Fox (as opposed to NY152) and her circle of friends (on whom she had relied upon) disappear from the story. Did a few pages go missing from the script ?

Even less convincing are the secondary relationships in the story. Kathy is dating a newspaper columnist,Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear) who abhors technology (and therefore doesn't understand her love of the internet). His prejudices seem a little strange since he extols the virtues of a 20 year old electric typewriter over a PC (now if he had a replica of Gutenberg's first printing press, or a scroll of papyrus, then I could sympathise with him). Joe Fox is dating a frenetic publisher (Parker Posey) who is more concerned with hype rather than the literary merit of her authors. At exactly the same time in the story (and I am not spoiling your enjoyment of the movie one iota by telling you this), both couples realise that their relationships are over and part without any drama whatsoever. Well, not exactly. Fox and his girlfriend are trapped in the elevator of their apartment building, along with the operator and other residents. First of all, it doesn't occur to the elevator operator to use the phone to ring for help, so Joe (our hero) does it instead. Then, without any hint of danger in sight, everyone gets edgy and begins babbling about what they will do when (or if) they get out of the elevator. Why the sudden desperation? It's not as if Michael Bolton's greatest hits (sic) is playing in the background. This is when Joe gets his 'moment of clarity'.

There is not a dud actor in the cast; Posey, Kinnear, Hanks and Ryan. However, Posey and Kinner can do very little with their characters. There is not a hint of a romantic spark between Hanks and Ryan; not even a dull spark of chemistry between them. It doesn't help that the character Kathy Kelly is far too sickly sweet to be believable. Her long emails to NY152 are drivel, quite frankly, and it is difficult to see why the Joe Fox character is attracted to her (before he sees her, at least). At least Tom Hanks made one good movie last year. For me, he was the towering strength of Saving Private Ryan. He could have mailed in his performance for You've Got Mail. At least this film avoided one cliché :- it doesn't have the cast (especially the kids) singing and dancing a routine to a Sixties classic (shudder).

Directed by Nora Ephron.

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