This is a romance - between an imperfect woman (undecided, sometimes deceptive, essentially false in her relationship to a man who is willing to commit his life to her) and a rather perfect man, a widower who deeply cares for his son and is lonely, deeply missing his wife. The chief obstacles to fruition of the adults' feelings are: i) logistical (one is in Seattle, the other in Baltimore), ii) the woman's inability to break off a relationship to another that she fears may not be fulfilling, and iii) the fact that the child is really the woman's only contact on the man's side - in fact, it is only the father's confession of woe on national radio that woos the woman.
There are many humorous one liner sorts of remarks - good supporting characters, and a wonderful last scene.
Yet I must admit on seeing this yet again (my third or fourth time? First time was definitely on a date in the theater) that much of the movie is logistics -How will the woman discover the radio man's identity? How will she communicate with him? How will the son reply? On what pretext will the engaged woman go to Seattle? How will the woman go to New York? Why and how will the man get to New York? How and when will the woman break off her engagement to be married to a man who had the defect of many allergies (always fatal in movie romances)? And frankly those logistics are rather boring.
But when Hanks and Ryan are in a scene together - whether in Seattle or New York - the movie is magical! :))
There are many humorous one liner sorts of remarks - good supporting characters, and a wonderful last scene.
Yet I must admit on seeing this yet again (my third or fourth time? First time was definitely on a date in the theater) that much of the movie is logistics -How will the woman discover the radio man's identity? How will she communicate with him? How will the son reply? On what pretext will the engaged woman go to Seattle? How will the woman go to New York? Why and how will the man get to New York? How and when will the woman break off her engagement to be married to a man who had the defect of many allergies (always fatal in movie romances)? And frankly those logistics are rather boring.
But when Hanks and Ryan are in a scene together - whether in Seattle or New York - the movie is magical! :))