Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
80%RT Audience Score: 75%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 2 Oscars
4 wins & 19 nominations total
Sleepless in Seattle is a cute classic with a very light touch and real chemistry between the two leads — even when spending an entire movie apart
Sleepless in Seattle is the ultimate long-distance relationship movie that will make you laugh, cry, and maybe even feel a little restless. But don’t worry, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s chemistry will keep you hooked until the very end. And let’s be real, who wouldn’t want to fall in love on top of the Empire State Building? It’s a classic rom-com that will leave you feeling terribly romantic, even if you’re a little skeptical about the whole “widower makes a wonderful romantic catch” thing.
Production Company(ies)
El Deseo Antena 3 Televisión Good Machine
Distributor
Columbia Tristar
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
1517 Pike Place, Seattle, Washington, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG for some language
Year of Release
1993
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 44m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jun 25, 1993 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 27, 2000
Genre(s)
Comedy/Romance
Keyword(s)
starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, Ross Mallinger, Rosie O’Donnell, Rob Reiner, directed by Nora Ephron, written by Nora Ephron, David S Ward, Jeff Arch, comedy, romance, PG, box office, $125.6M, reviewed by Caroline Siede, Michael Wilmington, David Ansen, Peter Bradshaw, Owen Gleiberman, Richard Schickel, Molly Haskell, Mike Massie, Danielle Solzman, Kathi Maio, Mark Steyn, People Staff, Gary Foster, Columbia Tristar, Surround, Stereo, widower, long-distance relationship, Empire State Building, Valentine’s Day
Worldwide gross: $227,927,165
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $473,462,885
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 303
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 51,631,721
US/Canada gross: $126,808,165
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $263,412,918
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 235
US/Canada opening weekend: $17,253,733
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $35,840,406
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 364
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $21,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $43,622,359
Production budget ranking: 887
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $23,490,640
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $406,349,886
ROI to date (est.): 605%
ROI ranking: 213
Meg Ryan – Annie Reed
Bill Pullman – Walter
Ross Mallinger – Jonah Baldwin
Rosie O’Donnell – Becky
Rob Reiner – Jay
Nora Ephron – Director/Writer
Gary Foster – Producer
David S. Ward – Writer
Jeff Arch – Writer
Director(s)
Nora Ephron
Writer(s)
Nora Ephron, David S. Ward, Jeff Arch
Producer(s)
Gary Foster
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 2 Oscars
4 wins & 19 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (59) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (15)
Sleepless In Seattle balances romance and realism by giving its central characters two different but equally pragmatic philosophies on love.
January 25, 2019
Caroline Siede
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
“Sleepless in Seattle” (citywide), a real charmer, is a romantic comedy about an ultimate long-distance relationship. Emphasize “romantic.” Emphasize “comedy.” It delivers both.
January 25, 2019
Michael Wilmington
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Self-consciousness infects Nora Ephron’s sweet but perilously thin love story, Sleepless in Seattle…such are the perils of these postmodernist times: even our love stories feed off borrowed emotion.
March 20, 2018
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
A movie to which director and co-writer Nora Ephron brought her terrific flair, wit and nous, although she propagates the terrifying fallacy that a widower makes a wonderful romantic catch.
February 13, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Don’t get me wrong: I have no objection to shamelessly corny love stories that make you well up with tearful joy. I just don’t like it when the movie does the welling up for you.
September 7, 2011 | Rating: C
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
Mostly, Sleepless in Seattle leaves you feeling restless in the audience.
February 2, 2009
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Sleepless in Seattle succeeds as a glorious three-way romantic comedy between men, women and children. It’s a valiant valentine to the post-nuclear family.
August 4, 2021
Molly Haskell
Ladies’ Home Journal
Despite a madcap, slapstick type of comic conclusion, with no real hope of marital longevity, the film is terribly romantic.
September 24, 2020 | Rating: 9/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
Sleepless in Seattle finds a way to put a fresh seasoning on top of the genre.
July 9, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Danielle Solzman
Solzy at the Movies
What are we teaching the other little sons of America, when they see so few movies as humane and woman-positive as Sleepless in Seattle, and so very many that portray women as evil incarnate?
August 14, 2019
Kathi Maio
Sojourner
The emotional weight of the drama rests on Hanks, and you appreciate how skilfully Ephron structures the film so that the two principals are bound by song and sentiment rather than physical proximity.
January 25, 2019
Mark Steyn
The Spectator
But the movie’s problems go deeper-than the dialogue: its whole premise is flawed.
January 25, 2019
People Staff
People Magazine…
Plot
After his wife Maggie passes away, Sam Baldwin and his 8-year-old son Jonah relocate from Chicago to Seattle to escape the grief associated with Maggie’s death. Eighteen months later Sam is still grieving and can’t sleep. Although Jonah misses his mother, he wants his father to get a new wife despite Sam having not even contemplated dating again. On Christmas Eve, Sam (on Jonah’s initiative) ends up pouring his heart out on a national radio talk show about his magical and perfect marriage to Maggie, and how much he still misses her. Among the many women who hear Sam’s story and fall in love with him solely because of it is Annie Reed, a Baltimore-based newspaper writer. Annie’s infatuation with Sam’s story and by association Sam himself is despite being already engaged. But Annie’s relationship with her straight-laced fiancé Walter is unlike her dream love life in the movie An Affair to Remember (1957). She even writes to Sam proposing they meet atop the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day. Back in Seattle, Sam has received hundreds of letters from women wanting to meet him. Jonah is excited by one letter in particular from Baltimore and will do whatever he needs to to get his father and Annie together. However, old fashioned Sam wants his future love life to be based on meeting a woman the traditional way and he, in turn, becomes infatuated with an unknown woman he spots a few times in Seattle. Will magic happen twice in Sam’s life, and if so will it be with this unknown woman or Annie?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels doesn’t have anything goofy or funny to say about Sleepless in Seattle, but they do mention that the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is real, even when they spend the entire movie apart.
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