Recently a Twitter buddy of mine noted that the three major forces behind When Harry Met Sally – Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, and Rob Reiner – are all still alive. And that the original film featured “interviews” with various older couples telling their stories.
And that Harry/Sally needs a sequel.
At first I was dubious, because, you know, leave well enough alone. But I did concede it would be fun to re-film the last two minutes of the film, so that an “older” Harry and Sally could now tell their story looking back with the benefit of their aged faces.
And then. Then I got to thinking.
While it’s true that the core three are still alive, a number of the people in the film aren’t with us anymore. Most importantly, Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher, who played their best friends who got married and, among other things, promised that they’d never be out there (single) again.
But what if… all that changed?
And here’s where we bring in some other important things: Namely, that Rob Reiner is still very good friends with Christopher Guest and his wife, Jamie Lee Curtis. Who weren’t anywhere in When Harry Met Sally.
So this time, instead of telling a love story, let’s tell a friendship story.
Harry and Sally have had, by all accounts, a good life. Sally retired from journalism as journalism started to crumble and Harry got out of political consulting just before the world went insane. Their two best friends died, even after thinking they’d never be out there again.
Harry and Sally got through COVID, but it was rough without their friends. And now, they feel like they need new friends, but don’t know how to make them.
Until one day, they meet another older couple: Bruno and Carrie.
How do friendships work today? Do they call their friends, like they used to? Do they text back and forth, which is so much more common today?
The foursome navigate social media together to keep up with what’s happening with their kids and grandkids.
They talk about their kids (Bruno and Carrie adopted and have a trans child, Harry and Sally had a birth daughter who hadn’t met the right person and doesn’t think she could justify having a child).
They talk about trying to fill up their retired life. (We thought about going on vacation, but what are we going on vacation from? It isn’t work. It’s not the kids. I’ve seen the world. I like my mattress. My back already hurts, why make it hurt more by sleeping on a bed whose mattress was last replaced when Biden was in short pants?)
The title of the film is When Harry and Sally Met Bruno and Carrie, and much like the first film was debating and discussing relationships and love, this one is about friendship and trying to squeeze the last little bit of joy out of life because you never know when it’s all going to be over.
And while Nora Ephron, who wrote the original screenplay, is also gone, her sister Delia just wrote a memoir about her own second chance at life after losing her sister and husband.
I mean, I feel like I deserve a story credit for doing this much work, but you can see it, right?
