Nora Ephron created strong, intelligent and sometimes quirky female characters like Sally Albright in When Harry Met Sally, Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle and made Meg Ryan the Queen of the Romantic Comedy in the ’80s and ’90s.
From her novel, Heartburn which was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in 1983 to Julie and Julia, also starring Meryl Streep. Nora Ephron died in 2012, but she has left us with a wonderful legacy of great movies.
Julie and Julia
Julie & Julia is the story of one woman who is inspired by another woman to achieve her dreams. It is the parallel stories of Julie Powell and Julia Child, two women who love to cook.
Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams is a frustrated employee at a government bureaucracy who decides to write a blog. And like most bloggers, she writes about her passion, which happens to be cooking.
Using Julia Child as the inspiration for her blog, The Julie/Julia Project she cooks one dish from Childs’ The Art of French Cooking, every day for a year.
Sleepless in Seattle
Sleepless in Seattle is absolutely one of my favorite chick flicks. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star in the movie directed by Carl Reiner and written by Nora Ephron. Meg is Annie Reed, a New York City journalist who falls for a recently widowed man she hears on a call-in advice radio show.
Rosie O’Donnell is hilarious as Annie’s best friend. Rita Wilson (Tom’s real-life wife) and Victor Garber play a married couple trying to help Ton’s character recover from the loss of his wife.
Tweet me (@clarabela #chickflicks) if you know the title of the movie they are talking about in this clip.
When Harry Met Sally
I can’t believe that it has been 30 years since we first saw this scene in When Harry Met Sally. Rob Reiner directs this story of two people who go from strangers to best friends who finally realize they love each other.
When Harry first met Sally they hated each other.
Thus starts one of my all-time favorite romantic comedies. [I know, I say that about all of them…but this one really is]
Meg Ryan is perfect as Sally Albright, a high maintenance girl who doesn’t think she is high maintenance (apparently, the worst kind of high maintenance woman). Bill Crystal is funny as Harry Burns.
You’ve Got Mail
Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are together again You’ve Got Mail the modern-day remake of The Shop Around the Corner. But instead of the store clerk pen pals in the Ernst Lubitsch movie, they are rival bookstore owners who exchange emails.
Meg and Tom are two of the most charming star-crossed lovers in the history of romantic comedies. Don’t believe me? Watch them together in Sleepless in Seattle.
More from Nora Ephron
Heartburn
Meryl Streep stars with Jack Nicholson in Heartburn, a romantic comedy about the marriage of two writers. Mike Nichols directed this semi-autobiographical movie based on Ephron’s tumultuous marriage and divorce to journalist, Carl Bernstein.
Silkwood
Meryl Streep, Cher, and Kurt Russell give outstanding performances in Silkwood, the story of Karen Silkwood, a whistle-blower at a nuclear plant.
Allegedly contaminated and harassed at her job at a work, Karen Silkwood threatens to expose safety violations at the plutonium processing plant. Silkwood disappeared in 1974 on her way to meet a reporter.
Books by Nora Ephron
In addition to her work as a director and screenwriter, Nora Ephron wrote several books that reflected her humorous view of life and growing older.
Chick Flick lovers mourned the loss of screenwriter-director, Nora Ephron, the woman behind many of our favorite movies. Nora died at the age of 71 on June 26, 2012.
What are your favorite Nora Ephron movies?
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