What’s Aged the Worst?
The haircut, appearance-first dating logic, fading earnest rom-com style, dated Internet behavior, and changed Observer politics receive criticism.
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:49Read transcript
- Meg Ryan's short haircut is called extremely tied to its moment, though the other participant defends how it looks on her.
- The Cafe Lalo setup centers on whether Kathleen is attractive enough for Joe to enter, which the panel says feels superficial and would be written differently now.
- The panel fears a 2017 version would be extremely weepy instead of funny and sentimental, a combination they struggle to find in newer films.
- The characters' casual bookish life is described as pre-hipster and unusually earnest rather than ironic.
- The characters' relationship with the Internet is called silly and dated, although it also inspires nostalgia.
- Frank's job at the Observer now reads differently because the paper's ownership no longer matches the liberal independent-bookstore milieu portrayed in the movie.
- Kathleen’s clogs are defended as comfortable and newly fashionable, a counterpoint within the aged-worst discussion.
- A Nora Ephron oral history says the styling brief sought a serious bookstore owner who would not look dowdy.