Why I like You've Got Mail
On an entirely different page of an entirely different movie, someone asked me why I would recommend You've Got Mail. While some of the below appears in other threads on this page, here is the answer I gave:
1. It's an unabashed, unapologetic romantic comedy, and a prototype for Hallmark Channel.
2. Its paradoxical world-view. It's BOTH very nostalgic for a long-vanished past, yet also very forward-facing: "the future is now".
3. All of the actors give excellent, believable performances of nuanced, quirky characters.
4. No anger, violence, hysteria, screaming.
5. It's a time capsule that perfectly captures what the late 1990s were like in a big American city (in this case, NYC).
6. It's not a role-model movie: there's no affirmation / validation / empowerment lessons. It simply tells the story it has to tell, and moves on.
7. The premise sets up a wide-open horizon of potential futures. There was never any sequel, but it's fascinating to think about how the characters would have gone forward with their lives after the end of the movie and where they would be today if they were real people.