You`ve Got Mail Review

On safer ground Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are once again in a romance, and once again they play people who are separated from one another - Sleepless in Seattle will not lay down and die. This time the separation is courtesy of new technology - Joe Fox - Hanks - and Kathleen Kelly - Ryan are emailpals. They`ve just connected in the thirty-something space and they get on, they don`t give any personal details which is why they don`t know that each has someone else in their lives - she has a driven left-wing journalist - Greg Kinnear - and he has a publisher from hell - Parker Posey. But more importantly they don`t know that they`re both in the same business - he`s the son of Fox and Sons,a mega-chainstore of booksellers, and she owns the little shop for children`s books around the corner. He`s establishing on the upper West Side, about to put her out of business... Nora Ephron was responsible for Sleepless in Seattle and co-wrote and directed this elongated piece of sentimental froth which is inspired by the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner on which the musical In The Good Old Summertime was based. It`s bound to be a crowd-pleaser, but it shouldn`t be, not at nearly two hours in length. When are filmmakers going to realise that romantic comedies should be a maximum of 95 minutes. Basing a movie on a relationship on the Internet necessarily involves a lot of screens and voice-overs - not the most filmic of situations. Tom Hanks, who apparently puts on quite a lot of weight between movies, didn`t lose quite enough for this one, but who cares, because he`s such a nice guy on screen. The film rests on the niceness of its characters which is why it needs the starpower it has. It`s not particularly smart or witty or even insightful. Particularly good in supporting roles are Greg Kinnear and Jean Stapleton who plays Kathleen`s mother`s greatest friend. It`s childish on occasions, very soft around the edges, but for all that, it`s very likeable.