Sleepless in Seattle has an old fashioned feel to it and more so than the 16 years since its release can account for. The characters and the script spends a lot of time referencing and watching 1957's An Affair to Remember and it does seem as though writer/director Nora Ephron was trying to channel one of those unabashedly romantic movies from the 1950s. And although she's clearly created a chick flick here, it is an entertaining one, thanks in large part to its two leads.

Hanks plays Sam Baldwin, a man newly widowed as the story begins. He moves with his son Jonah to Seattle to start a new life. On Christmas Eve, 18 months later, Jonah calls into a nationally broadcast radio talk-show where he asks the host to help his dad who's still depressed. Sam ends up on the phone where he pours out his feelings for his departed wife. Meanwhile, across the country on that same Christmas Eve, Annie (Ryan) hears Sam on the show and feels strangely connected to him despite already being engaged herself.

Ryan and Hanks only spend about 2 minutes of screen-time together in the whole movie. Annie does some investigation of Sam and even travels to Seattle where they glimpse each other and almost speak, but fate contrives to keep them apart. Sam, in just the few minutes he sees Annie also feels the same attraction to her that she feels toward him. I told you it was a chick flick.

What really makes this movie work is that Hanks and Ryan are just so good. Hanks has that quirky comic charm of his. He doesn't have leading man looks, but he has great comic timing and is just one of those people that is almost impossible to dislike. He also shares good father/son chemistry with Ross Malinger. And in the 1990s Meg Ryan was the queen of romantic comedies and she doesn't disappoint here. She has a charm and beauty that somehow still seems attainable. Some actresses are goddesses whom are only there to be worshiped from afar, but Ryan seems like someone you might actually meet. You never will of course, but it seems like you could.

Providing some comic relief is a fairly well-known supporting cast. Bill Pullman plays Annie's allergy-ridden, but amazingly understanding fiancee. Hanks real-life wife Rita Wilson plays Sam's sister. Rob Reiner plays a friend of Sam's and a pre-coming out of the closet Rosie O Donnel plays a friend of Annie's. David Hyde Pierce, who would again have a connection to Seattle in Frasier, also has a small part as Annie's brother.

Although she writes mainly chick flicks, Ephron does do a fairly good job of writing for both men and women. In When Harry Met Sally (a far better film), this one and You've Got Mail, all of which she wrote, she gives fairly equal time to the male and female characters. She doesn't always get the men as right as she does the women, but it's nice to see her try.

The tone of this movie is unapologetically romantic, from its falling in love with a voice on the radio beginning to its on the top of the Empire State Building finale. It's not a perfect movie, but it is an entertaining one with two talented leads in the prime of their career.

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