Sleepless in Seattle - Movie Reviews (2025)

Sleepless in Seattle is odd because there is no meet cute until the final scene. Somehow, Norah Ephron has created a world where it makes sense that two strangers are separated by 3,000 miles and still manage to fall in love.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Sleepless in Seattle fully embraces romantic melodrama and Ephron cleverly exploits the insane chemistry that Hanks and Ryan share. Its greatness is undisputed and the list just wouldn’t be complete without it.

Full Review | Feb 1, 2023

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.

Full Review | Aug 4, 2021

Despite a madcap, slapstick type of comic conclusion, with no real hope of marital longevity, the film is terribly romantic.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Sep 24, 2020

Sleepless in Seattle finds a way to put a fresh seasoning on top of the genre.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 9, 2020

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?

Full Review | Aug 14, 2019

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.

Full Review | Jan 25, 2019

But the movie's problems go deeper-than the dialogue: its whole premise is flawed.

Full Review | Jan 25, 2019

Sleepless In Seattle balances romance and realism by giving its central characters two different but equally pragmatic philosophies on love.

Full Review | Jan 25, 2019

The rest of this romantic comedy about the strange power that pulls a man and woman together... only reinforces the notion that Ephron is a filmmaker whose time has come at last, after years as a novelist, screenwriter and feminist wit.

Full Review | Jan 25, 2019

"Sleepless in Seattle" (citywide), a real charmer, is a romantic comedy about an ultimate long-distance relationship. Emphasize "romantic." Emphasize "comedy." It delivers both.

Full Review | Jan 25, 2019

For nearly two hours, Ephron keeps her marvellous stars apart, a potentially dangerous tactic that works superbly.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 24, 2019

Substantially better, funnier, smarter, and more impeccably-controlled than almost everything that came in its wake.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 16, 2018

While I have returned to watch my favourite moments play out again and again, I am always rewarded by the subtlety and beauty in the scenes I don't remember.

Full Review | Jun 27, 2018

...a decent drama that never entirely lives up to its place as a classic romcom...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 28, 2018

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.

Full Review | Mar 20, 2018

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 13, 2014

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.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Sep 7, 2011

A fairy tale that even teens can enjoy.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2011

A romantic treat.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 2, 2009