Rating : - A Christian Perspective
** Disclaimer: The reason I have chosen to review this item from the perspective of my Christian faith is to provide other Christians some information or food for thought concerning this item. It is not my intention to convince non-Christians that they should convert, nor is it my intention to convince other Christians that they must agree with my opinions. What follows is simply my view of this item through the lens of my understanding of the Christian faith, so I trust that none will be offended by points-of-view I express with which they disagree. Peace.

From a Christian or otherwise moral perspective, I don't think there is anything in this movie requiring a bad review. There is no nudity and only minor use of foul language. The only real challenge to the Christian faith is cultural, but this is to be expected. The movie takes for granted that there is no God and that normal people live together before getting married, etc. It's your basic modern Enlightenment all-that-matters-is-that-I-am-happy nonsense, but there is nothing in this movie that should preclude conscientious Christians from watching it.

I give this movie three stars not because it contains objectionable material but merely because it is a mediocre movie. First, this movie is entirely too sappy, and this is coming from someone who admits that one of his favorite movies is You've Got Mail. To be sure, some of the sap is in fact witty humor. For example, there are at least three times where the emotionalism of women in the movie is being poked fun at. However, most of the time the movie is trying to endorse some deep sentimental meaning behind situations that don't call for it. Further, there is quite a bit of nonsense in the movie... the significance of the fact that Annie Reed also peels her apples all the way around in one piece, etc. The storyline is more than a little ridiculous, too. It is hard to understand how a man would be at all interested in a women who tracked him down and traveled across the entire country to stalk him.

Nevertheless, this movie isn't completely worthless. There is some wit to it. In fact, the movie would have benefited from more Rob Reiner and less of Meg Ryan acting like a total basket case. Tom Hanks, Rob Reinger, Rosie O'Odonnell and Ross Malinger are all pretty funny. Bill Pullman is really hard to watch, but I suppose he was supposed to be hard to watch. All-in-all, this movie slightly above average. And because it lacks morally objectionable material, which is hard to come by these days from Hollywood, I guess I'd have to recommend it for a date-night flick.