Twenty years ago on Dec. 18, sitting in a theater that likely had a buttery scent in the air, audiences took in “You’ve Got Mail.”
kathleen kelly (meg ryan) and joe fox – f-o-x – (tom hanks) developed an online friendship and it eventually led to true love, despite being cutthroat book business competitors, in a world created for romantic comedy. icon nora ephron and her sister delia de ella, inspired by the play “parfumerie” by miklós lászló. At the time, AOL’s Red Notice of yesteryear produced the same buzz.
It’s the kind of movie that wouldn’t be the same if it were made today. would the title be tragically “you have a dm”? where would the potential clients have met but in an “over 30” chat room where they both claimed never to have been before? the over30 subreddit?
Like other romantic comedies, like Ephron’s “Serendipity” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” part of the “You’ve Got Mail” plot relies on anonymity. today that rules out the possibility of exchanging emails because whose gmail does not include your full name? Let’s also ponder how Joe could even put Kathleen out of business with Amazon presumably breathing on Fox Books’ back, cappuccino seductive of hers notwithstanding.
yeah, a “you got mail” made in 2018 may very well be a return to sender, but luckily we still have the movie as it was and these unforgettable quotes, which still live with us in the present.
In no particular order, here are the top 20 quotes from the film in honor of its 20th anniversary:
1. kathleen thinking about her email friend: “‘what will ny152 say today?’ I ask myself. I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently while it connects. I connect to the internet and my breath catches until I hear three little words: ‘you have an email’. I don’t hear a thing. not even a sound. on the streets again york, just the beat of my own heart. I have an email from you.”
2. joe to his pen pal: “don’t you love new york in the fall? makes me want to buy school supplies. i’d send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils if i knew your name and address.”
3. Christina (Heather Burns) warns her boss, Kathleen, against cyber sex: “Don’t do it, because the minute you do it, they lose all respect for you.”
4. joe reflecting on the wisdom he has received from what has clearly been an influential film for him: “‘the godfather’ is the i ching. ‘the godfather’ is the sum of all wisdom. ‘the godfather’ is the answer to any question”. What should I pack for my summer vacation? ‘put down the gun, take the cannoli’. what day of the week is? ‘Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday’. “
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5. A frustrated Kathleen to Joe: “Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.”
6. joe to his colleague and friend kevin (dave chappelle): “kevin, this woman is the loveliest creature i have ever come in contact with, and if she turns out to be as pretty as a mailbox, i would be crazy not to turn my life upside down and marry her.”
7. Patricia (Parker Posey) thinking about what’s really important while she’s stuck in an elevator: “If I ever get out of here, they’re going to shoot me in the eyes with lasers.”
8. joe: “the whole purpose of places like starbucks is for people without any decision-making skills to make six decisions just to buy a cup of coffee. low, high, light, dark, brown, decaf, low fat, non fat , etc., so that people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing, or who the hell they are, can, for just $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee, but an absolutely defining sense of identity: tall, decaf cappuccino. .”
9. nervous frank (greg kinnear) to a TV host during a flirtatious interview: “thank you.”
10. Babysitter Maureen (Katie Finneran) giving some solid advice: “Never marry a man who lies.”
11. kathleen to joe at a party: “are you taking all the caviar? that caviar is a side dish!”
12. Frank gives his girlfriend a pep talk: “Kathleen, you’re a lonely rod. You’re a… lonely rod, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce.”
13. george (steve zahn) at kathleen’s bookstore: “this place is a tomb. i go to the nut shop where it’s fun.”
14. Kathleen reflects on closing her store: “It’s a lovely store, and in a week it’s going to be something really depressing, like a baby space.”
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15. Kathleen thinking about her late mom: “Do you know that Joni Mitchell song? ‘I wish I had a river I could skate away on?’ It’s such a sad song, and not really about Christmas at all, but I was thinking about it tonight as I was decorating my Christmas tree, unwrapping funky ornaments made of Popsicle sticks and missing my mother so much I almost couldn’t breathe.”
16. Kathleen reflecting on her emails with Joe: “I just want to say that all of this nothing has meant more to me than so many things.”
17. kathleen to frank when they’re breaking up: “…there’s someone else’s dream.”
18. joe wondering if things would have turned out differently if he had met kathleen in different circumstances: “I would have asked for your number and couldn’t have waited 24 hours before calling you and saying, ‘hey how about… oh how about coffee or, you know, drinks or dinner or a movie…for as long as we both live?”
19. he continues, “well let me ask you something… how can you forgive this guy for standing you up and not forgive me for this little thing of putting you out of business? oh how I wish you would.” /p>
20. When Kathleen finally finds out that Joe is her online pen pal: “I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so bad.”
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