I really liked the original better - 1940's "The Shop Around the Corner". However, for a modern romantic comedy this one hits the spot. It alters the means of communication between the mismatched couple to email from letters. This film has Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) as the heir to a Borders-like bookstore empire whose family is opening a new store near his pen pal Kathleen Kelly's (Meg Ryan) small children's' bookstore. It is the same as its predecessor in that the pen pals actually know each other and do not like each other. It alters the basis of the disagreement to be that of Fox's big impersonal business delivering goods at a discount with the price being a largely anonymous and unknowledgeable retail staff versus Kelly's personal service and first editions that carries a large price tag for the paying customers. It turns out that, even in Manhattan, people prefer to buy discount with the result being the end of Kathleen's store. The movie keeps things interesting with several little side stories and unanswered questions. Did Joe's grandfather ever date Kathleen's mother? Did Kathleen's employee Birdie (Jean Stapleton) have an affair with Francisco Franco in her youth? Why and how did Birdie decide to buy all of that Intel stock? Then there is the whole issue of Joe's serially monogamous dad (Dabney Coleman) that plays out quite humorously and the fact that Joe has an aunt that is thirty years younger than he is. Considering Joe's mother had to be a victim of his father's philandering at some point, Joe seems to take his dad's personal habits quite casually. A very moving addition to this version of the story is Kathleen's identification of the store with her mother to the point that, when the store does finally close, she considers it to be much like her mother dying all over again.
The only thing that really bothered me was the issue of Joe and Kathleen seeking other relationships while seriously involved with other people to the point of living with them and not letting on that there was anything amiss. This seemed a bit underhanded on both their parts and somewhat undermined their likability, at least to me.
Now I wrote the paragraphs above several years ago. The technology was relevant to the year it was made -1997. Of course today, everybody would be texting one another, and Joe's bookstore would probably be just as extinct as Kathleen's since Amazon managed to put not just the independent bookstores out of business, but big brick and mortar chains like Border's. Of course, that is not the point of the film. The point is love finding two people who on the surface seem completely mismatched in every way, and who, on top of that, are competitors.
The only thing that really bothered me was the issue of Joe and Kathleen seeking other relationships while seriously involved with other people to the point of living with them and not letting on that there was anything amiss. This seemed a bit underhanded on both their parts and somewhat undermined their likability, at least to me.
Now I wrote the paragraphs above several years ago. The technology was relevant to the year it was made -1997. Of course today, everybody would be texting one another, and Joe's bookstore would probably be just as extinct as Kathleen's since Amazon managed to put not just the independent bookstores out of business, but big brick and mortar chains like Border's. Of course, that is not the point of the film. The point is love finding two people who on the surface seem completely mismatched in every way, and who, on top of that, are competitors.