When Harry Met Sally review

 Number 664 on the top 1000 films of all time is Rob Reiner's 1989 romantic-comedy When Harry Met Sally.

When Harry Met Sally follows the chance encounters of the two titular characters Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) as they meet and become friends, and potentially even something more, over a period of twelve years.

When Harry Met Sally aimed to answer the question "can men and women ever just be friends?" Harry is adamant they can't as the sex part always gets in the way. However, Sally is equally adamant that the opposite is true. Not every man wants to sleep with his female friends. Reiner explores this question in such an entertaining way. This was a very amusing film, which also had plenty of emotional payoff. However, it never falls into sentimentality or farce. Everything stays real.

Other than the question above, the key conflict is the will they/won't they of Harry and Sally's relationship. And this relationship worked so well because of the chemistry between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Both of them were great separately and together. Although Crystal is primarily known as a comedy actor, he also made a good romantic leading man. The same can be said for Meg Ryan who lent the script lots of comedy, emotional depth, as well as the film's most iconic scene. You know which one I mean.

One critic described it as being a sitcom version of a Woody Allen film. I can definitely see the comparisons. You have the neurotic male lead, the faux-intellectual characters, a New York setting and plenty of jokes. The difference? When Harry Met Sally actually made me laugh a lot. It also had a very good supporting cast including Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby.

I thoroughly enjoyed When Harry Met Sally. It was a funny yet touching film. Can men and women ever be just friends? What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. 

Flipped review

 Number 577 on the top 1000 films of all time is Rob Reiner's 2010 coming of age romantic drama Flipped.

Flipped tells the story of Bryce Loski (Callan Mcauliffe) and Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll) Upon meeting as kids, she falls in love with him. We see their love to and froe as they grow until adulthood where Juli is just about to give up when...

Rob Reiner's murder at the hands of his son is a tragedy. He will be best remembered for directing great films like The Princess Bride and Misery. Will he be remembered for directing Flipped? Nope. It was a very meh film and not particularly memorable. In terms of coming of age dramas, it was definitely no Stand By Me.

Much of this was down to the two lead characters and their rather insipid romance. Bryce is a major bonehead so much so that you do wonder why Juli was attracted to him in the first place. I guess love is both blind and deaf and dumb.

Callan Mcauliffe played Bryce At 15. He hasn't gone onto the most illustrious of careers other than a supporting role in the latter seasons of the Walking dead. He wasn't anything special as the bland protagonist. And wasn't particulary endearing either. The same can be said for Juli who was equally bland as Juli. I wasn't particularly interested in learning if the two get together or not.

Sure you could argue their messy love story is reflective of love stories everywhere but that didn't make it anymore interesting. It didn't help there wasn't much conflict keeping them apart except for their own pride and hubris. It was very much a case of stupid characters making stupid choices for no reason but to push the plot forward. Sure Bryce's father thinks Juli's family is beneath them but this felt more like an after thought.

Rob Reiner was a fine director who will be remembered for a great many films. However, Flipped is a film best forgotten.

This is Spinal Tap review

 Number 298 on the top 1000 films of all time is Rob Reiner's 1984 mockumentary musical comedy 'This is Spinal Tap.'

David St Hubbins (Michael Mckean), Nigel Tufnell (Christopher Guest) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) comprise Spinal Tap - the UK's hottest hair-metal band. However, upon their latest tour to the US, they quickly realise that their popularity is quickly fading. Meanwhile, Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner) is filming a documentary about their successes and failures.

This was Rob Reiner's directorial debut. He went onto direct hilarious comedies like The Princess Bride also starring Christopher Guest, as well as heart-breaking coming of age dramas like Stand By Me. While I loved those two films, I found This is Spinal Tap to be a little disappointing. It didn't make me laugh like the Princess Bride or cry like Stand By Me. In fact, I didn't feel much of anything.

I do feel part of that was down to the nature and structure of the film. Naturally, we start off seeing Spinal Tap at the dizzying heights of their success, but when you're that high up, the only way is down. As such, we quickly saw them self-destruct. Fame is a fickle beast and this inevitably happens to many different bands, but it's not fun to see it happen on-screen.

It didn't help that all three characters encapsulated the annoying, spoiled, diva self-destructive artist archetype that so many rock stars fall into. Yes, it was realistic, but it wasn't entertaining. Their constant squabbling and tantrums became tiresome after a while. Back in the day, one of my favourite bands was Oasis, but this was because of their music and not because of the in-fighting of the Gallagher brothers.

Speaking of music, I didn't find Spinal Tap's songs particularly memorable. Mckean, Guest and Shearer are all accomplished musicians and singers - they wrong, performed and song the songs themselves, but I didn't leave the cinema, so to speak, singing one of their songs.

When I think of mockumentaries, I think of the cringe humour you get in the Office or Parks and Recreation. Granted, that isn't a pre-requisite of mockumentaries, but there was still little humour in this is Spinal Tap. Even though, I was supposed to be laughing at the characters, I didn't care enough to do so. For that same reason, none of the film's emotional beats landed for me.

I do think that this was one of those cases where the film just wasn't for me. I'm just glad that Rob Reiner has continued directing. Sure, I didn't like this is Spinal Tap, but the Princess Bride remains as one of the best films ever.