Certified rom-com extraordinaire Meg Ryan recently announced that she wrote, starred in, and directed a new romantic comedy, which is fantastic news for fans of the genre as Ryan has starred in some of the best films the category has to offer over the course of her career. But while we wait for What Happens Later to debut, let’s revisit some of her coziest rom-coms.
Sleepless in Seattle
A 1993 specialty from one Miss Nora Ephron, Sleepless in Seattle has all sorts of comfort movie vibes. New York City during the holidays and Seattle in the rain? Talk about great backdrops.
Starring Ryan across Tom Hanks and featuring some other great ‘90s stars (Rob Reiner, Rosie O’Donnell, and David Hyde Pierce for example), Sleepless in Seattle is named for the nickname a radio personality gives a grieving widower after his son calls into the program in search of someone for his father to date. The father-son storyline is all sorts of heartwarming, but the cross-country love story is even more compelling.
Sleepless in Seattle is streaming now on Fubo.
You’ve Got Mail
All of Meg Ryan’s best work takes place in New York City. Five years after the release of Sleepless in Seattle, Ryan and Hanks teamed up with Ephron again for You’ve Got Mail, a rom-com that explored internet dating before the app store was rife with options to help introverts find love.
Ryan plays Kathleen, an independent bookstore owner, while Hanks plays Joe, a chain bookstore nepo baby whose business is threatening Kathleen’s livelihood. In one of the ultimate displays of the enemies-to-lovers trope, You’ve Got Mail is the perfect rainy-day film that’ll remind you that love can be found with anyone at any time, even your sworn nemesis.
You’ve Got Mail is streaming now on Max.
When Harry Met Sally…
There’s no rom-com cozier than When Harry Met Sally… Starring Ryan opposite Billy Crystal, Sally and Harry drive together from Chicago to New York after graduating college to start their careers, and after multiple subsequent chance encounters with years in between, the two strike up a friendship, and that friendship eventually turns into something more.
An essential rom-com with some of the most iconic lines and scenes in cinematic history, When Harry Met Sally… will make you laugh, cry, and wish the year were September through January on a loop.
When Harry Met Sally… is streaming now on Prime Video and Max.
