you've got mail works alot better than it deserves to . in order to make the film a success , all they had to do was cast two extremely popular and attractive stars , have them share the screen for about two hours and then collect the profits . no real acting was involved and there is not an original or inventive bone in it's body ( it's basically a complete re-shoot of the shop around the corner , only adding a few modern twists ) . essentially , it goes against and defies all concepts of good contemporary filmmaking . it's overly sentimental and at times terribly mushy , not to mention very manipulative . but oh , how enjoyable that manipulation is . but there must be something other than the casting and manipulation that makes the movie work as well as it does , because i absolutely hated the previous ryan/hanks teaming , sleepless in seattle . it couldn't have been the directing , because both films were helmed by the same woman . i haven't quite yet figured out what i liked so much about you've got mail , but then again , is that really important ? if you like something so much , why even question it ? again , the storyline is as cliched as they come . tom hanks plays joe fox , the insanely likeable owner of a discount book chain and meg ryan plays kathleen kelley , the even more insanely likeable proprietor of a family-run children's book shop called , in a nice homage , the shop around the corner . fox and kelley soon become bitter rivals because the new fox books store is opening up right across the block from the small business . little do they know , they are already in love with each other over the internet , only neither party knows the other person's true identity . the rest of the story isn't important because all it does is serve as a mere backdrop for the two stars to share the screen . sure , there are some mildly interesting subplots , but they all fail in comparison to the utter cuteness of the main relationship . all of this , of course , leads up to the predictable climax . but as foreseeable as the ending is , it's so damn cute and well-done that i doubt any movie in the entire year contains a scene the evokes as much pure joy as this part does . when ryan discovers the true identity of her online love , i was filled with such , for lack of a better word , happiness that for the first time all year , i actually left the theater smiling .
