You've Got Mail

1998

Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance

104
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 73% · 88 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 73% · 250K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 243345 243.3K

bookshop businessman anonymous letter romantic comedy romcom falling in love

Plot summary

Book superstore magnate Joe Fox and independent book shop owner Kathleen Kelly fall in love in the anonymity of the Internet—both blissfully unaware that he's trying to put her out of business.

Director

Nora Ephron Photo
Nora Ephron

Top cast

Tom Hanks Photo
Tom Hanks as Joe Fox
Howard Spiegel Photo
Howard Spiegel as Henry, Zabars Shopper
Jerry Rees Photo
Jerry Rees as Customer at Starbucks
John Randolph Photo
John Randolph as Schuyler Fox
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
751.18 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 59 min
Seeds 37
1.60 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 59 min
Seeds 100

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by cgvsluis 8 / 10

Ah, when the Internet was new...the seduction!

"Don't you love New York in the fall? Makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a freshly sharpened bouquet of pencils if I knew your name and address."-NY152The sweet seduction of a well written letter! The waiting, the anticipation...the delayed gratification."Dear friend. I like to pretend that we are the oldest and dearest of friends...I turn on my computer, I wait impatiently as it connects, I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words...'you've got mail'. I hear nothing not even a sound on the streets of New York, just the beating of my heart. I've got mail...from you"-ShopGirlThis is a modern retelling of the classic James Stewart film Shop Around the Corner (which if you have never seen it...you definitely should! It is set at Christmas time, so it makes a wonderful Christmas film.). You've got Mail even does a nice hat tip to the original film by naming the little all children's bookstore 'shop around the corner'.The modern story is about Kathleen Kelly who owns a small neighborhood children's bookstore on the west side in New York. She met someone in a chat room, when the Internet was new and starts a great series of conversations with a stranger NY152. Meanwhile a big chain box store "Fox Books" is being built across the street. Kathleen ends up meeting Joe Fox...not knowing he's the Fox books Fox or her secret pen pal."We are going to seduce them. We are going to seduce them with our square footage, and our discounts, and our deep arm chairs and our cappuccino. They are going to hate us at the beginning but we are going to get 'em in the end. And do you know why? Because we are going to sell them cheep books and legal addictive stimulants. In the meantime we will just put up a big sign 'coming soon a Fox Book Superstore The end of civilization as you know it.'"-Joe Fox.Lots of comedy and great conversations ensue...including a discussion about Pride and Prejudice, Kathleen's favorite book.This is a great love story and almost as wonderful as the original...except this one has the sad tragedy of a David and Goliath story. Although, I wonder how those big box stores now feel about Amazon putting them out of business?Beautiful film from the age of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. Romantics will love this rom-com and I highly recommend...the topped the wonderful soundtrack filled with Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman and Roy Orbison.
Reviewed by mattatthemovies 6 / 10

Has some flaws

This is a decent movie with a good cast. I actually prefer this movie to Sleepless in Seattle; I think it's funnier and has the advantage of Hanks and Ryan actually sharing the screen together for more than the last 5 minutes.The biggest problem with this movie is that it fails to stick the landing. There seems to be some commentary on big corporations driving mom-and-pop shops out of business. However, the film ends with the big corporation winning and Meg Ryan being left jobless. That seems like a weird way to end a movie but what do I know? I was expecting this movie to end with Hanks purchasing her store and gifting it back to her, or possibly closing his competing megastore. It's very odd that corporate greed wins out here and the script writers just kind of shrugged their shoulders.There's also the questionable nature of their relationship once Hanks figures out the identity of his pen pal. I don't think most women would find it very romantic if a man they hated tried to woo them over the internet using an online alias. I'm not sure who made that decision, but for this movie to work like it was intended they should have learned about each other's identities at the same time.
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