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- Issue 29: Summer edition ☀️
What do they call it when everything intersects?
“It was like coming home, only to no home I’d ever known.” -Sam Baldwin (Sleepless in Seattle)
Today, I wrap the 2024 summer movie series, and the summer movie series as a whole, with a look at a romcom that was both ahead of its time and a throwback to a bygone era: 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle. Before I delve into this iconic film, I want to thank all of my listeners for tuning in to the summer movie series, which I’ve been doing since 2021; covering 37 films. This has become one of my favorite parts of the podcast and as this is my last full season, it’s a little bitter sweet to say goodbye to this part of it as it means I’m that much closer to Moving Forward’s finale.
On a separate note, I’ll be taking the next month to focus on my upcoming class and other important matters. As such, today will be the last Moving Forward episode and Weekly Quirk issue until late September. The podcast will resume with episode 479 on Thursday, September 19th and the newsletter with issue 30 on Friday, September 20th.
Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer. I hope these remaining weeks are filled with adventure, fun, and maybe, inspired by this week’s movie pick, a cross-country romance.
-John
Moving Forward
Episode 478: Summer movie series: Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
On this week’s episode
“Just think. In about 11 years, our story will make a great Facebook post, once that’s invented.”
Catch this week’s episode on Spotify. Moving Forward will return with episode 479 and the remainder of season 11 on Thursday, Sept. 19th.
The Weekly Quirk will return with issue 30 on Friday, Sept. 20th.
Moving Forward is also available on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, CastBox, Pocket Casts, Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor), and Audible.
2024 Summer movie series
Sleepless in Seattle (**** 1/2)
There’s a scene in Sleepless that, when I first saw it in 1993, made it as prophetic as Forrest Gump investing his Bubba Gump money into Apple stock the following year. Annie Reed (Ryan) is an investigative reporter for The Baltimore Sun. Under the thinly veiled guise of doing a story about widowers with her only lead a radio call-in show, she logs into a Lexis news database on her computer, which with its Fanta soda colored font is today as quaint as … well Fanta, but back then was the stuff of fantasy sci-fi. She types in the name “Sam Baldwin” (Hanks) and several keystrokes later, narrows it down to architects located in Seattle until she finds the one who called into said radio show on New Year’s Eve. Afterward, she uses an email precursor to contact a private investigator to find out as much as she can about him. Hmmm, if you tweaked this just slightly and cast someone other than Hanks and Ryan in the leads, you would have a high tech stalker thriller. I digress. This scene represented a watershed that prophesied what we would see in the coming decades: the internet, email, social media, online dating, never leaving your house, and a longing for simpler times before everything was made “simpler.” Moreover, it was the earliest hint of this crazy idea that a romantic connection could spark without a face-to-face interaction. To that point, the late film critic Roger Ebert in his 1993 review of Sleepless pondered that “[i]f love at first sight is a reality, then in this information age there should also be the possibility of love at first cybercontact.” Someone at the studio must have been taking notes because five years later we got You’ve Got Mail, also starring Hanks and Ryan.
Back to Sleepless. Despite its clever use of tech that was ahead of its time, it was also a throwback to comedies that predicated themselves on popular romantic notions, including love at first sight sound, soulmates, and fate. Yet, what distinguishes Sleepless is that it turns the “boy meets girl” foundation on its head with a story, in which boy doesn’t actually meet girl, at least for most of the film. The movie instead follows its leads separately, giving them little to no interaction, as their lives unfold on screen with work, family, daydreams, and even romantic relationships with other people. There’s no rhyme or reason that the two protagonists should ever meet but for a FM radio tower and a nosey Seattle call-in psychiatrist that would make Frasier wince. The premise is outlandish but delivered with an audacious earnestness thanks to Hanks and Ryan who together could turn a takeout menu into riveting romantic dialogue.
The film cleverly sets up some “almost meet cutes,” which ratchets up the tension, creating buy in for the audience. In that regard, we, the aforementioned audience, are represented by a young chorus: Sam Baldwin’s son Jonah (Malinger) and his snarky yet wise-beyond-her-years friend Jessica (Hoffman) who do all they can to bring two long distance star-crossed lovers together for their happily ever after. The movie is smart enough to know that only a pair of rubes could take this notion seriously.
You probably know the rest but in case you haven’t experienced it, I’ll let you discover what fate has in store for Sam and Annie, and whether they’re MFEO (made for each other).
Revisiting Sleepless today, it’s a wonder that this was ever a film. As prophetic and ahead of its time as it was, we’re now at a point where this premise could not justify a feature length. At best, a 2024 interpretation would be a three-minute TikTok skit of two people DMing on Instagram and never actually meeting. We’ve come full circle. Ironically, the technology that promised to simplify our lives and even make Sleepless like connections possible has brought us to where we long for the times before that, which required greater effort but also promised greater reward. If Sleepless over-romanticizes this idea, at least it does so with an earnestness that’s missing today, both in romcoms and IRL.
Sleepless in Seattle (1993) was directed by Nora Ephron who co-wrote the screenplay with David S. Ward. It was made on a budget of $21M, achieving a $221M box office.
Cast:
Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin
Meg Ryan as Annie Reed
Bill Pullman as Walter Jackson
Ross Malinger as Jonah Baldwin
Rosie O’Donnell as Becky
Victor Garber as Greg
Rita Wilson as Suzy
Barbara Garrick as Victoria
Supporting cast:
David Hyde Pierce as Dennis Reed
Dana Ivey as Claire
Caroline Aaron as Dr. Marsha Fieldstone
Gaby Hoffman as Jessica
Sleepless in Seattle (1993) usually pops up on any number of streaming services but is not currently streaming as of the air of this episode. Check your local library. You can also purchase Sleepless in Seattle (1993) on physical or digital media from Amazon (affiliate paid link).
Summer movie series ☀️🎞🎙
2024 season
2023 season
2022 season
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Available now at my bookstore on Pangobooks
In the mood for romance? Try this tale of five love stories from the author of Love Story.
Quirky reads 📚
Some great books to fill your summer hours.
[Affiliate disclosure: these are affiliate links to Amazon through which I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.]
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (**)
Follow me on Goodreads for book recommendations and to see what else I’m reading.
Resources
Teach a man to fish, you know the rest (if you don’t, check these out).
Book a coaching call with me on Clarity.
Follow me on Goodreads for book recommendations.
Check out one of my favorite daily newsletters Morning Brew (affiliate referral link).
Books
I wrote most of these so spruce up your home library and look smart in the process.
The Poshmark Guide for Individuals and Small Businesses (Paperback, Kindle, Audible)
The Poshmark Guide for Individuals and Small Businesses (Apple audiobooks)
I Am a Professional Metalhead (audiobook) (Audible affiliate link) written by Angelo Spenillo, narrated by John Lim
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