You've Got Mail

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox film You've Got Mail is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan alongside Parker Posey, Jean Stapleton, Dave Chappelle, Steve Zahn, and Greg Kinnear. Inspired by the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László (which had earlier been adapted in 1940 as The Shop Around the Corner and in 1949 as In the Good Old Summertime),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the screenplay was co-written by Nora and Delia Ephron. It tells the story of two people in an online romance who are unaware they are also business rivals. It marked the third pairing of Hanks and Ryan, who previously appeared together in Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993), the latter directed by Ephron. The film takes its name from the greeting AOL users receive when they get a new email.

Plot

On Manhattan's Upper West Side, Kathleen Kelly runs The Shop Around the Corner, an independent children's bookstore she inherited from her mother. Her romantic partner is Frank Navasky, a left-leaning columnist for The New York Observer.Template:Efn While Frank is devoted to his typewriter, Kathleen prefers her laptop and using her AOL email account, under the screen name "Shopgirl", to exchange messages with "NY152", whom she first met in a chatroom. They agreed not to share specifics about their personal lives.

"NY152" is Joe Fox's screen name.Template:Efn Joe's family runs Fox Books, a major bookstore chain, and he is dating Patricia Eden, an abrasive publisher. Joe is overseeing the opening of a new storefront, just a few blocks from The Shop Around the Corner. Kathleen's three shop assistants—George, Birdie, and Christina—worry the new Fox Books will hurt business, but Kathleen dismisses their concerns.

While on an outing with his 11-year-old aunt Annabel and 4-year-old half-brother Matthew, Joe takes them to Kathleen's store for a storytime event. Joe and Kathleen meet, but when she expresses disdain for the new Fox Books store, he withholds his last name. Later that week, Kathleen learns Joe's true identity when they meet again at a book publishing party. She accuses him of deception and spying, while he belittles her store, earning each other's hostility.

"Shopgirl" emails "NY152" asking for business advice; he urges she fight back. Frank pens a column supporting The Shop Around the Corner that draws widespread attention, leading to talk show appearances, news coverage, and picketing outside Fox Books. Joe is aggravated by the negative publicity, but his father says it will blow over once they open.

"Shopgirl" and "NY152" arrange to meet at a café. Joe arrives with Kevin, his Fox Books store manager. Kevin peeks through the window and informs Joe that his pen pal is actually his professional nemesis. Joe initially walks away, then joins Kathleen at the table without revealing his online identity. They clash again, and Kathleen insults him, causing Joe to leave. Kathleen believes "NY152" never showed up. Later that night, "Shopgirl" emails "NY152" to say she finally stood up to an unpleasant person but now feels terrible about it. "NY152" apologizes for not being there and assures Kathleen that anything she said to the other person was likely deserved and probably provoked.

Despite efforts to save The Shop Around the Corner, business steadily declines, while the new Fox Books thrives. Kathleen closes the store and decides she will write children's books. Later, she and Frank amicably end their relationship. Joe breaks up with Patricia and realizes his feelings for Kathleen. He slowly builds a face-to-face relationship with her, without revealing his online identity.

Eventually, "NY152" arranges another meeting with "Shopgirl". Right before the meetup, Joe sees Kathleen and confesses his feelings, imploring her to forgive his past animosity. Kathleen becomes emotional, hinting she feels the same but cannot forego her feelings for "NY152". Upon arriving at the meeting place, Kathleen, hearing a voice calling for Brinkley, "NY152's" dog, realizes it is Joe Fox. She says she hoped it would be him, and they kiss.

Production

Influences

You've Got Mail is based on the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László and its adaptations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Parfumerie was later remade as The Shop Around the Corner, a 1940 film by Ernst Lubitsch, which in 1949 was adapted as a musical film, In the Good Old Summertime by Robert Z. Leonard starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson and, finally, in 1963 as a Broadway musical with She Loves Me by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (composer and lyricist, respectively, of Fiddler on the Roof). You've Got Mail updates that concept with the use of email, and the lead character's workplace is named "The Shop Around the Corner" as a nod to the 1940 film.<ref name="LATimes">Template:Cite news</ref> Influences from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice can also be seen in the relationship between Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly—a reference pointed out by these characters actually discussing Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in the film. The joke when Tom Hanks explains that the little girl is really his aunt is taken from Israel Zangwill's story "A New Matrimonial Relation" in The Bachelors' Club (1891).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Casting

Julia Roberts was offered the role of Kathleen Kelly, but declined due to a lack of good rom-com scripts at the time, the role eventually went to Meg Ryan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filming

Principal photography took place primarily on New York City's Upper West Side. Principal photography began on February 25, 1998, and completed on June 8, 1998.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="LATimes"/><ref name="Vanity Fair">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Delia Ephron, recalling the film's bookstore setting, said, "Once we decided that she would be an independent bookstore owner, the reason we made it a children's bookstore is, I think, we always tried to make movies as personal as we could. To find the thing in it that was personal. And we grew up loving children's books more than anything."<ref name="Vanity Fair"/> Nora Ephron similarly remarked in the film's audio commentary, "This was something that was very important to us—that there be first editions of old children's books. It's part of what make [sic] this a serious bookstore. We wanted to sell the idea that this was a place that really cared about the history of children's literature."<ref name="Vanity Fair"/> Additionally, Ephron had Ryan and Burns rehearse and work at Books of Wonder, an independent New York City children's bookstore, for a week prior to filming in order to get them into character.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The filming location used as the bookstore was at 106 West 69th Street, at that time Maya Shaper's Cheese and Antique Shop.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Michael Palin was initially cast as a reclusive novelist based on Thomas Pynchon, but his scenes were cut from the film.<ref name="Vanity Fair"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Website

The film's original website remained live until at least May 10, 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The website has proven to be fodder for criticism of web design from the 1990s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Soundtrack

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} A soundtrack was released on December 1, 1998, featuring a mixture of classics from the 1950s and 1970s, particularly the work of Harry Nilsson, as well as new original recordings and covers.<ref>{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/album/r381313{{

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}}</ref> The score to the film was written by English composer George Fenton.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Reception

Box office

You've Got Mail grossed $115.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $135 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $250.8 million.<ref name="mojo"/> The film debuted at number one at the North American box office above The Prince of Egypt, earning $18.4 million on its opening weekend.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, You've Got Mail holds an approval rating of 70% based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Great chemistry between the leads made this a warm and charming delight."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of A− on a scale of A to F.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-out-of-four stars and lauded the "immensely lovable" main characters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Janet Maslin of The New York Times also praised the film, writing of the leads, "Ms. Ryan plays her role blithely and credibly this time, with an air of freshness, a minimum of cute fidgeting and a lot of fond chemistry with Mr. Hanks. And he continues to amaze. Once again, he fully inhabits a new role without any obvious actorly behavior, to the point where comparisons to James Stewart ... really cannot be avoided."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lael Loewenstein of Variety similarly called it a "winning romantic comedy" and praised the chemistry between Hanks and Ryan, writing, "they show why they are two of Hollywood's most bankable and, in many ways, most traditional stars."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and Gene Shalit on the Today Show called the film "exciting and enchanting".

Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club disliked the film, and wrote: "Takes almost two self-infatuated, smarmy, condescending, cringe-inducingly sentimental hours to reach its pre-ordained conclusion" and called the film "almost unwatchably saccharine, representing pretty much everything wrong with today's big-budget, high-concept Hollywood filmmaking."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post criticized the film's use of product placement and its overly "adorable" characters, writing, "For some reason, this film made me feel like a Christmas goose being fattened for slaughter. Its force-fed diet of whimsy cloyed long before the eagerly anticipated romantic payoff arrived to put me out of my misery."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Maitland McDonagh also criticized the incongruous product placement "In a film about the ruthless corporate destruction of small businesses, it's hard not to flinch at the prominent placement accorded IBM, Starbucks, and AOL logos."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rolling Stone later included You've Got Mail in their list of "Most Egregious Product Placements in Movie & TV History" for the film's frequent use of AOL trademarks (AOL would later merge with film distributor Warner Bros' parent company Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner in 2000).<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Template:Abbr
American Comedy Awards	February 7, 1999	Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)	Meg Ryan	Template:Nominated	Template:Cn
		Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)	Tom Hanks	Template:Nominated
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	June 16, 1999	Favorite Actor - Comedy/Romance		Template:Nominated	<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
		Favorite Actress - Comedy/Romance	Meg Ryan	Template:Won
		Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy/Romance	Greg Kinnear	Template:Won
BMI Film & TV Awards	January 1, 1999	BMI Film Music Award	George Fenton	Template:Won	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Golden Globe Awards	January 24, 1999	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Meg Ryan	Template:Nominated	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Kids' Choice Awards	May 1, 1999	Favorite Movie Actress		Template:Nominated	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Satellite Awards	January 17, 1999	Best Actress – Musical or Comedy		Template:Nominated	<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
		Best Film – Musical or Comedy	You've Got Mail	Template:Nominated
		Best Original Song	"Anyone at All"	Template:Nominated

External links

• Template:Official website
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