Release Year: 1989

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Director: Rob Reiner

Writer: Nora Ephron

Stars: Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal

When Harry met Sally, the romantic comedy genre changed forever. That's really the long and short of it.

Released in 1989, When Harry Met Sally became a massive critical and commercial success. How'd it pull that off? With the perfect rom com recipe:

• 1 part Meg Ryan
• 1 part Billy Crystal
• a dash of the Big Apple
• a pinch of irony—okay, more like a healthy heaping
• 6 adorable old couples

et voila! Romantic comedy magic.

Written by the indelible Nora Ephron and directed by the ever-charming Rob Reiner, When Harry Met Sally tells the twelve-year love story of two neurotic but lovable New Yorkers who start off hating each other (in true screwball comedy style), wind up being best friends, and then find themselves head-over-heels in love. It's a story we've all seen before—on TV, in movies, even in pop songs. But we credit When Harry Met Sally with putting that whole friends-turned-lovers thing on the map.

Since its release, people have been congratulating the movie for being awesome in just about every way possible:

• an Oscar nomination
• five Golden Globe nominations
• high-ranking spots on lists like AFI's 100 Years… 100 Laughs and Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies
• listicles up the wazoo

Fans and critics alike responded to the chemistry between the stars, the fresh and zesty humor of Ephron's script, and the plot's forthright, unflinching attitude toward sex and love. Combine that with everyone's secret dream of falling madly in love with a best friend, and you've got a surefire formula for box office success.

Decades later, fans are still celebrating the movie as the pinnacle of the romantic comedy genre, and critics are still pondering its influence over every romantic movie that came after. Shmoopers, that's when you know you have a classic.

HARRY: You realize of course that we could never be friends. […] men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.

With those immortal words, Harry Burns set gender relations on its head. We're still debating this today, albeit with a more post-gender-binary spin. But really, don't we all still wonder if Harry isn't a little bit right?

His frank assertion—one that both he and Sally waver on throughout the rest of When Harry Met Sally—is proof positive that this movie is about more than just a man's and a woman's paths to true love. When Harry Met Sally also tackles gender dynamics for the modern world.

Is it a progressive flick? One that shows that men and women can be friends, despite all the old-school gender roles—and the sex, of course—that would seem to get in the way? Or does When Harry Met Sally stick to the tired idea that men are from Mars and women are from Venus and never the twain shall meet?

The truth is, the movie doesn't fit so neatly into either option. Harry and Sally are more than just a man and just a woman, after all. They're round characters with their own quirks and neuroses that go far beyond their interest in the opposite sex. But wherever you think the movie lands when it comes to its central question, this much is true: we'll still be arguing about it for years to come.