The Big Picture There are few filmmakers as readily and effortlessly associated with the rom-com genre as Nora Ephron. With warm and fuzzy rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle, Ephron defined the quintessential charm of 90s romance.
The problem isn't really that they are flawed. Ephron famously used flawed characters in her previous projects to provide a means of relatability for the audience. Joe Fox in You’ve Got Mail was a soulless capitalist who reduced books to mere commodities to be pushed down the consumer’s throat with discounts and coupons. Still, he had his redeeming qualities that made the viewers root for him to end up with Kathleen Kelly at the end of You’ve Got Mail.
It’s implied that they have good sexual chemistry, but we never witness it, and whatever relationship they have seems to begin and end with the feeling of lust. For the better part, they are mostly bickering, but not in the young 25 year-old-manner that’s cute and charming, but rather with the staleness of a couple who’ve been trapped in a loveless marriage for 25 years.