When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 American romantic comedy film directed by Rob Reiner and written by Nora Ephron.

Starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, and Bruno Kirby, it follows the title characters from the time they meet in Chicago and share a drive to New York City through twelve years of chance encounters in New York, and addresses the question "Can men and women ever just be friends?"

Columbia Pictures released When Harry Met Sally in selected cities, letting word of mouth generate interest, before gradually expanding distribution.

They agree to pursue a friendship and have late-night phone conversations, go to dinner, and spend time together discussing their love lives.

During a New Year's Eve party, Harry and Sally find themselves growing attracted to each other and share an awkward midnight kiss.

In 1984, director Rob Reiner, producer Andrew Scheinman, and writer Nora Ephron met over lunch at the Russian Tea Room in New York City to develop a project.

[3] Billy Crystal "experienced vicariously" Reiner's (his best friend at the time) return to single life after divorcing comedian/filmmaker Penny Marshall and in the process was unconsciously doing research for the role of Harry.

Some of the interviews appeared in the film as the interludes between certain scenes featuring couples talking about how they met,[2] although the material was rewritten and reshot with actors.

[7] For example, the scene depicting Sally and Harry in split-screen conversing with each other by telephone and simultaneously watching television and channel surfing was something that Crystal and Reiner did every night.

[3] In order to get into the lonely mindset of Harry when he was divorced and single, Crystal stayed by himself in a separate room from the cast and crew while they were shooting in Manhattan.

In a scene featuring the two title characters having lunch at Katz's Delicatessen, a well-known Jewish deli in Manhattan, the couple are arguing about a man's ability to recognize when a woman is faking an orgasm.

Sally claims that men cannot tell the difference, and to prove her point, she vividly (fully clothed) fakes one as other diners watch.

The scene ends with Sally casually returning to her meal as a nearby patron (played by Reiner's mother) places her order, deadpan: "I'll have what she's having."

When Estelle Reiner died at age 94 in 2008, The New York Times referred to her as the woman "who delivered one of the most memorably funny lines in movie history".

[3] In late 2013, Improv Everywhere, the New York City initiative behind the annual No Pants Day in the subways and various flash-mob stunts, convened and filmed a re-enactment in Katz's Delicatessen.

[16] In October of the same year, Katz's invited Baron Von Fancy to display his ten-foot-high mural quoting the famous line in its pop-up gallery next door, The Space.

The soundtrack consists of standards performed by Harry Connick Jr. with a big band and orchestra arranged by Marc Shaiman.

Other songs were performed as piano/vocal solos, or with Connick's trio featuring Benjamin Jonah Wolfe on bass and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums.

[22] The soundtrack features performances by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, and Harry Connick Jr. Columbia Pictures released When Harry Met Sally... using the "platform" technique which involves opening a film in a few select cities then letting word of mouth generate interest before gradually expanding distribution over subsequent weeks.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Rob Reiner's touching, funny film set a new standard for romantic comedies, and he was ably abetted by the sharp interplay between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.

"[28] In a review for The New York Times, Caryn James called When Harry Met Sally... an "often funny but amazingly hollow film" that "romanticized lives of intelligent, successful, neurotic New Yorkers"; James characterized it as "the sitcom version of a Woody Allen film, full of amusing lines and scenes, all infused with an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu".

[29] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post praised Meg Ryan as the "summer's Melanie Griffith – a honey-haired blonde who finally finds a showcase for her sheer exuberance.

He criticized the casting of Crystal, "Not surprisingly he handles the comedy superbly, but he's too cool and self-protective an actor to work as a romantic leading man", and felt that as a film, "of wonderful parts, it doesn't quite add up".

It was released on DVD for the first time on January 9, 2001, and included an audio commentary by Reiner, a 35-minute "Making Of" documentary featuring interviews with Reiner, Ephron, Crystal, and Ryan, seven deleted scenes, and a music video for "It Had To Be You" by Harry Connick Jr.[51] A Collector's Edition DVD was released on January 15, 2008, including a new audio commentary with Reiner, Ephron, and Crystal, eight deleted scenes, all new featurettes (It All Started Like This, Stories Of Love, When Rob Met Billy, Billy On Harry, I Love New York, What Harry Meeting Sally Meant, So Can Men And Women Really Be Friends?

Factory from a new 4K transfer of the original camera negative, containing special features from previous home media releases, as well as a new interview with director Rob Reiner and Billy Crystal.

[55] Over the years, When Harry Met Sally... has become "the quintessential contemporary feel-good relationship movie that somehow still rings true".

[61] The film has inspired countless romantic comedies, including A Lot Like Love,[62] No Strings Attached, Hum Tum,[63] and Definitely, Maybe.

[64] In addition, the film helped popularize many ideas about love that have become household concepts now, such as the "high-maintenance" girlfriend and the "transitional person".

[67] In early 2004, the film was adapted for the stage in a Theatre Royal Haymarket production starring Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan.