I Still Have Too Many Thoughts
• So, at the end of You've Got Mail, Tom Hanks seems to have a pretty good time engineering his eventual coming together with Meg Ryan, since he knows she's the one he's been emailing and IMing all this time. She, however, doesn't know he's the one she's been communicating with, making the whole thing a little weird and one-sided. In the final scene, she's supposed to meet her online mystery man, only here comes Hanks, and birds are singing, and roses are blooming, and blah blah blah. She gets a little misty and says, "I wanted it to be you." This presents a few problems: (1) She's apparently OK with moving on from the online guy, who she still thinks is someone else, which makes me feel sorry for him, even though he's Hanks, and Hanks just cuckolded a digital version of himself. (2) Hanks will eventually have to come clean about his manipulation, right? Like, 15 minutes later, once the credits have already rolled, they'll probably be tired of sharing an awkward closed-mouth kiss in the middle of the park and decide to talk, and she'll say how glad she is to be in love with him but how bad she feels about screwing over the online guy, at which point Hanks will pretty much have to admit that he's known for a while now that they were communicating online, after which she'll feel violated and weirded out, and a little put off that this amazing man wasn't above rigging the game a little (which is a smart move, but risky, since it would eventually lead to the park bench DTR). I'm just saying, it's a sweet movie, and the end isn't half bad, but there's a fight just around the corner.
• Returning briefly to Back to the Future: Part III, why the hell are Marty and the Doc so scared when they find Doc's tombstone in 1955? He was already an older man when he was transported back to 1885; did they really expect him to never die? He'd be almost 150 years old by 1955. Come on, guys. That's stupid.
Comments: 14
I always heard "I wanted it to be you" the same way Ben did, but I understand your confusion because it totally wrecks the movie for me. No way would a character that "spunky" be like "Yay! Not only did you destroy my livelihood, but you've been manipulating me all this time! Out of 'love'! Let's make out!"
Seriously, I think the girl gets more pissed off in the (vastly superior) '30s Jimmy Stewart version.
Ryan's character knew about Hanks the entire time, from before the movie even started. She knew her small business was in jeopardy and it was only a matter of time before Fox books (I think that was it....should I remember that?) swooped in and stole their business. Therefore, she found his email address and began seducing him through an alias, assuring that once her store went under, she'd still be financially sound, if not much more so than before.
Girl's gotta eat.
Was there not a date on the tombstone?
Dan's yeller
I agree with the above comments -- I always thought that she understood that he was the online guy, especially when she sees Brinkley (the dog) and hears Hanks call him by name. I think only online-version Hanks had used the name of Brinkley in his e-mails, so how would in-person-Hanks know the name of the online-guy's dog if it weren't the same person? You know? I just thought it was weird she was so immediately forgiving, but I always thought she knew it was him.
... I've seen this movie way too many times.
I believe Marty and Doc's surprise and conniption comes from the part on the tombstone where it says, "Shot in the back over the matter of 5 dollars" (and I, of course, paraphrase). If the tombstone had read, "Died after living a full life of having being loved by a teacher and having kids and generally being goofy in the old West" then they probably wouldn't have been too upset.
I don't think he had to explain the situation to her, because it was instantly obvious that Joe and NY152 are the same person. Kathleen knows Joe couldn't have known where she was meeting NY152, or NY152's dog's name. So when she sees him, she instantly realizes what was going on, and her saying "I wanted it to be you" was her putting to rest the nagging voice in her head that said she couldn't love both Joe and NY152. Here she sees he is the same person, and all is well. Aww....
I've actually never thought of the ending that way (that she had already put it together), but I'm glad that someone has pointed it out because it's never seemed right to me. I, too, always thought that she should have either punched him and then kissed him, or that we were missing out on the GIANT fight that was bound to happen not five minutes into the relationship. Like, honestly, would any sane woman put up with that crap? Especially not this one, when she spends the entire first part of the movie going at Joe's eyes with her claws out, with no compunction. My sister and I would watch the movie, enjoy it, then turn it off before the last five minutes, as it was too, too ridiculous, even for a romantic comedy.
I LOVE that you actually think about stuff like this because I always do and my friends get pissed because I "overanalyze". Bite me.
So, if Doc really died of old age in 1910 or whatever, what would happen to his "future" self - because, I mean, "dead" Doc would know that Marty would avenge his murder so future Doc would still be around, but what if he died of natural causes - what then?
Obviously Doc and Marty are all afeared (love that word) about Doc's tombstone because, if the tombstone is real, it means Doc didn't get picked up by a newly rebuilt time machine and whisked back to the future again. Seeing it means either the time machine doesn't work well enough to bring him back, or he chose to stay in that time period and died there.
Of course, this is what's going through their heads before they actually manage to rebuild the thing.
For a thorough analysis, I suggest you visit this website: http://www.mjyoung.net/time/index.htm
The entire first paragraph had me picturing that scene in Undeclared, where Lloyd's just looking at the tv screen with this psuedo-horrified look on his face.
And Christopher Lloyd (hey, a segue!) is like Christopher Walken: Immortal.
I agree with Ben, that's how I interpreted the ending. Oh and I f*cking love this movie.
1955 Doc and Marty were horrified at 1985 Doc (in 1885)'s tombstone, because he was murdered so soon after writing his letter to Marty. 1985 Doc (in 1885) intended to live out the rest of his life in the old west and eventually die... but Marty couldn't let his pal get capped so soon.
That's basically what Chris said. Sleepless Mama has done her research but I think you're mistaken on the motivation for their fear. 1985 Doc (in 1885) told Marty to return in the DeLorean he stowed to 1985 and NOT come for him. The whole reason Marty went back was that Doc didn't know his life would be coming to a grizzly end so soon.
Clevegal confused me so hard.
So I kind of shamefully love You've Got Mail, just 'cause I think it works really well within its genre tropes and come on, it's ridiculously cute.
But the end never bothered me, because her, "I wanted it to be you" means that she's wanted NY152 to be Hanks and now that he is, thank God, because she was hoping that Hanks, the man she's grown to love (albeit through his manipulations) is NY152, the man she's grown to love. That line, for me, says she's put it all together and is OK with it; therefore, so am I.
Sep 4, 2007 11:57 AM