Reiner Time

I had a little Rob Reiner festival over the weekend and watched When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride. Reiner made a lot of good movies in the '80s, a tide that didn't turn until, as most critics have it, he made the unsuccessful North in 1994. He had a remarkable run before that and it's fascinating how different When Harry Met Sally is to The Princess Bride. One is a fairly down to Earth, New York romantic comedy, the other is an ode to high fantasy, albeit also a romantic comedy.

When Harry Met Sally is arguably the quintessential romantic comedy, at least of the latter part of the twentieth century. It still ranks high, often at number one, among the greatest romantic comedies of all time. But as I've been compelled to note while watching Ally McBeal recently, it's remarkable to see how little shame was attached to promiscuity once upon a time. Obviously the contrast for me is even more severe since chastity is pushed in most Japanese media, even while pornography is ubiquitous. I mean, there are adult video rental shops all over the place here. Can you imagine? The internet can't even conquer those in physical media loving Japan.

Could we have a scene to-day like Meg Ryan's famous fake orgasm, or even just the bit where Billy Crystal casually infers she has never had great sex? There are movies and television series now that portray promiscuity but it's increasingly portrayed as something for the distantly privileged and abnormally sinful--I'm thinking of Saltburn, Game of Thrones, and . . . shit, what was that movie I wanted to see so badly last year? It's on Disney+ now, it won a bunch of Oscars. Wow, how can I not remember its name? It was a Frankenstein pastiche--ah, Pretty Things. That's it. All these movies have promiscuous characters but they're so detached from the everyday reality most people inhabit.

The Princess Bride, meanwhile, has two apparently chaste protagonists and much of the tension revolves around Buttercup potentially marrying Prince Humperdink, whom she doesn't love. The loving tributes to chivalry are so charming and the first conversation between Westley and Inigo is great, it makes you long for this reality that likely never existed, one where opponents could nonetheless mutually recognise a code of conduct and respect. Rob Reiner putting all the dialogue in the manner of casual, modern day comedians can be funny on an ironic level but, the more one rewatches it, the more it comes off as simply fine values translated to regular speech.