Movie Review: You've Got Mail
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that the movie contains brief bad
language, and that Joe's father and grandfather become involved
with a series of younger women, which is portrayed as humorous
--including a comment by Joe's father (Dabney Coleman) that he
may marry the mother of his son. Sexual overtures to Joe by
that woman seem inappropriate for a movie of this kind. A later
reference to a woman who leaves a man for a woman is also
intended as humor.
Families can talk about online relationships and how it's not
OK to talk to strangers online. They can also explain why they
should never accept an invitation to meet in person anyone they
have corresponded with online. Other good topics for discussion
include how it can be easier to be yourself in email than in
person and how you balance the need to stand up for yourself
with the importance of not hurting others.
In YOU'VE GOT MAIL, Tom Hanks plays Joe Fox, scion of a family that owns a chain of enormous bookstores (think Barnes & Noble). Meg Ryan plays Katherine Kelly, owner of a beloved independent children's book store called The Shop Around the Corner. When the new Fox store moves in around her corner, they take each other on, not knowing that they are in fact friends, and falling for each other, online.
The classic story of two enemies who discover that they are really the "dear friends" who share a loving pen pal relationship is deliciously updated for the era of email. The witty dialogue gets high gloss from two of the finest light romantic leads in Hollywood, whose chemistry was already proven in Sleepless in Seattle. It's clear from the beginning where it's going, but it's also clear they will make it a pleasure along the way, and they do.
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