The triumph of When Harry Met Sally

Look at any list of the ‘greatest ever romcoms’ and you’ll find When Harry Met Sally near the top of the list, if not heading it. This 1989 movie, directed by Rob Reiner and written by the late Nora Ephron – with terrific performances from Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as the title characters – is about as good as the genre got, the high peak of romantic comedy before its slump to the present day. With its New Year’s Party ending and rendition of ‘Auld Lang’s Syne’, it’s also the perfect film to watch in the week after Christmas (hence, no doubt, the BBC’s decision to screen it this coming 30 December).

Is there anyone over 35 who hasn’t seen it? For those who haven’t, the movie, set mostly in 1980s New York, asks a perennial question: can men and women ever really be friends or does sex always get in the way? We watch as over twelve years the title characters – Harry Burns and Sally Albright (smart names, we realise) – meet and hate, then befriend and rely on each other, before wrecking it all (perhaps) with a one-night stand.