Sleepless in Seattle (1993) * * *

Directed by:  Nora Ephron

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger, Bill Pullman, Rosie O'Donnell, Rob Reiner, Victor Garber, Gaby Hoffman, Rita Wilson, Carey Lowell

You don't think about some of the absurdities of Sleepless in Seattle while watching it, because it is a gentle and sweet romantic comedy which disarms you.   But yes, Annie (Ryan) is a quasi-stalker from Baltimore who falls for a stranger's voice she hears on the radio one night.    The voice belongs to Sam (Hanks), a lonesome widower who lives with his son Jonah (Malinger) in Seattle.   Jonah calls a radio talk show therapist asking to cure his father of his doldrums.   Sam gets on the phone, and the sadness and love he expresses for his departed wife makes many women's hearts, including Annie's, flutter. 

Sam receives hundreds of letters from eligible women willing to marry, or at least date, him.   One of those is Annie, who is engaged to the kind Walter (Pullman) whose only drawback (besides being allergic to numerous things) is that he isn't Sam.   We know how insane it would be for Annie and Sam to get together sight unseen, so writer-director Ephron cleverly works around this by
having Sam and Annie "meet" and have Sam fall in love with Annie at first sight, not knowing that this woman is the Annie who has been stalking, er, curious about him.   Oh, and Jonah also reads Annie's pitch and determines she is the right fit for his dad.    Annie expresses her desire to meet on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day, and Jonah tries to make this happen.

Hanks and Ryan are kind and lovable both together and apart.   An Affair to Remember is referenced and adored by various members of the cast, and it moves some to the point of tears.   Hanks and Victor Garber have a funny scene parodying another's love of the movie with a reenactment of a scene from The Dirty Dozen.    It is difficult to imagine Jonah flying across the country to stand alone at the top of the Empire State Building waiting for a woman he has never met.   More difficult to figure is how his father discovers where he went and boards a plane to go after him without contacting authorities about his son.    I understand with a film like Sleepless in Seattle, you forgive it its trespasses, but come on.