You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Retro Review #43: The third time is the charm in this rare remake that is superior to two previous adaptations of the same material.

You’ve Got Mail (1998) — The third time is the charm in this rare remake that is superior to two previous adaptations of the same material.
+ Feature film, 1h 59m
Project #2: 2024 Christmas Leftovers
Project #5: 2025 Christmas Leftovers

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A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+, ⚠️ Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults.) | PGa

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎0️⃣ Neutral (No clear values of any type or ⚠️ includes both negative messages and positive messages, which balance out.)

Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Nora Ephron. Screenplay by Nora Ephron & Delia Ephron. Directed by Nora Ephron.

+ Based on literature (stage play) Parfumerie‼️🔙⭐ by Miklós László
+ Based on feature film The Shop Around the Corner (1940) screenplay by Samson Raphaelson

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You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Grade: A+^ (20.0) / HOF: 90
EQ 👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A 🎼A+
DW 🚫5.4 | 🌚5 🌝7
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R ☮️n/a ◀️n/a ▶️n/a 🛐n/a

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This is our third ever-so-slightly Christmasy romcom based on the Miklós László play Parfumerie, and You’ve Got Mail is the best of the trio.

It doesn’t start out that way. The Shop Around the Corner is interesting and pulls you in right from the beginning. In the Good Old Summertime is immediately funny. You’ve Got Mail, at first, is neither.

You’ve Got Mail does benefit from starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, a charming and talented pair with definite screen chemistry. But in this modernized version our main characters don’t start out single. They’re “living in sin” with rather unappealing partners, so both of our main characters are clearly fated to be a dumper or dumpee at some point.

Tom Hanks as Joe Fox and Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly. © Warner Bros. Pictures

In another change, absolutely necessary for a modern retelling of the story, they fall for anonymous correspondents via email instead of snail mail. And in yet another twist that ups the conflict ante, instead of co-workers, Joe (Hanks) and Kathleen (Ryan) are business rivals. Kathleen owns a children’s bookstore, appropriately named “The Shop Around the Corner”, and Joe opens a discount book superstore that may put Kathleen out of business.

Naturally, we still know where the story is headed before our characters find out.

You’ve Got Mail is sometimes labeled fittingly as a “feel-good romance” and also fittingly has a feel-good soundtrack mixing excellent soft pop songs spanning a few decades, preparing you well for what happens next.

Deja vu all over again. © Warner Bros. Pictures

This version of the story strays pretty far from numerous similar scenes shared by the first two adaptations, wasting time early with some weird minor characters. But all three movies share an important turning point scene where events and even sometimes dialogue stick to an almost identical script. In both The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail, this is the funniest scene of the film, though it somehow didn’t come off as well In the Good Old Summertime.

As romcoms go, well, You’ve Got Mail is not “You’ve Got Comedy”. Other than that very entertaining key scene, there are only a few laughs, albeit lots of smiles, in the rest of the film.

However, from that key pivotal scene until credits roll at the end of the movie, You’ve Got Mail far surpasses the other two films. With greater conflict comes a need for greater reconciliation. It’s fascinating that a motion picture ostensibly about online romance excels at showing how to repair a relationship in real life.

© Warner Bros. Pictures

Lots of movie remakes are able to improve on the visuals of earlier versions of a work. And that’s no surprise due to improved filming technologies. Despite the minor subplots being better in the original material, You’ve Got Mail is the rare remake that improves on an already solid primary storyline.

Credit writer/producer/director Nora Ephron along with Hanks and Ryan for crafting a sweetly dramatic ride, that will realistically remind you of the feelings that come early in a romance when a happy outcome seems against the odds.

It all climaxes in an emotionally powerful and eminently memorable ending that leaves your box of tissues empty and the previous two films in the dust, but perhaps proud of their role as forerunners of greatness!

© Warner Bros. Pictures

Onwards!

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+ last viewed (3) 2026-01-08, HDX7, 1.85v, 2M
+ first viewed 1998-12, ThX, 1.85, 2
+ 🎈🦃⛄🎄🥰😍😏😥🥸📚

Family Suitability Detail
+ ✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+, ⚠️ Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults.) | PGa
+ 😡+3 😵‍💫+2 🤬+1 🫢+1 🫣+1

Judeo-Christian Values Detail
+ ❎0️⃣ Neutral (No clear values of any type or ⚠️ includes both negative messages and positive messages, which balance out.)
+ ✝️ +4 ➕😇😇😇❤️❤️❤️(💒)🩸💜💜 ➖😍(❤️‍🩹💧)
+ ✡️ -0 ➕🌗🌗🤍 ➖😍🤬🤬🫢
+ 🗽 -3 ➕(🇺🇸) ➖😍💻💻💲💲💲(🇻🇳)

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Originally posted to text group 2025-01-01
Re-reviewed and updated 2026-01-10

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Note from Rick Retro: This review was originally posted January 1, 2025, to a select group of friends and family via a text group. We have roughly five times as many subscribers in our community now, so I am working on formatting and uploading all those old reviews to Substack for all of you and future subscribers as well.

At that time, I had not completely developed my full review format, so I am also re-reviewing most of these works to match the format of my newer reviews. Since these posts were almost entirely holiday themed from a 2024 Christmas Tour, I am now uploading these reviews as part of a 2025 Christmas Tour, all intended to get my archives completed while giving new subscribers a chance to experience older reviews on a measured basis.

But if you’d rather just start from the original beginning, visit this post and follow the “Next (all sections) ➡️” links at the end of each post, until you arrive at this one, where that link will be dead, until I upload the next post from our text group archives 😉. When the next post is not yet available, there will be a link to the post that is “Next Available, skipping over text group posts not yet uploaded ➡️”

The first post to Substack after the current “Text Group Gaps” of posts I have not yet uploaded can be found here. From this post, following the “Next (all sections) ➡️” links will bring you all the way to the most current post.

This note will disappear when the next text group post is added, and this review takes its rightful spot in our archives. For now, I hope you enjoy this look into Christmas past!