You've Got Mail

Sleepless In Seattle director Nora Ephron originally made a name for herself as the writer of romantic comedies such as When Harry Met Sally and This is My Life. She continues the genre with You've Got Mail, marking her second collaboration with actors Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The story brings romance and courtship into the electronic age of the World Wide Web via e-mail and chat rooms. Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly live and work blocks from each other on New York City's Upper West Side. Their lives are practically intertwined. They both shop at the same place, frequent the same coffee shop, and even own competing bookstores on the same street. They also both have significant others of their own. Joe has the overly hyper book editor Patricia Eden (Parker Posey), while Kathleen lives with the scholarly newspaper columnist Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear). Then they meet in a chat room. Though they keep their identities secret (they're known only by screen names NY152 and Shopgirl), they tell each other everything about their lives, including their private feelings, which slowly turn into affection for each other. When Joe decides to expand his "Foxbooks" bookstore into a superchain, Kathleen, with her "Shop Around the Corner," is doomed. Surely her boutique business will be lost to the conglomerate with a built-in newsstand and coffee bar. When Kathleen confides her work woes to her e-mail buddy, Joe puts two-and-two together. How can he reveal himself to her now, knowing that he is the cause of her misery? Hopefully, love will conquer all. — Chris Gore