In this first of a long succession of successful screen pairings of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the pair play inadvertent lovers searching for some meaning in their lives. Tom is a widower whose wife has died some time before of cancer. He is the father of a precocious but concerned seven-year-old boy, Jonah, who believes that his father's only hope is to find someone to replace Maggie. Desperate for help, he calls in to a late-night radio talk show and gives the sad story of his mother's death... to which, coincidentally, Meg Ryan's character Annie is listening to on her way to DC to spend Christmas with her fiancée and his parents.

Annie is a successful journalist for a newspaper. Her fiancée Walter (Bill Pullman) is a dull but caring counterpart with allergies run amuck. It's the perfect match... they fit together like an old pair of gloves. Everything they think, say, and do is somehow related... which worries her, particularly when her mother reminisces that her own marriage was "simply magic." Annie begins to wonder, then, if Walter isn't right for her... if perhaps there's someone out there with that "magic" ability to give her love at first sight. Strangely enough, this child Jonah and his father Sam linger in her mind. 

Seeking out the advice of her best friend (played by Rosie O'Donnell), Annie considers sending a letter to this hurting man, in care of the radio studio. Unfortunately, thousands of other women nation-wide have also heard Sam pour out his heartfelt story in the early hours and have the same idea. Sam is soon barraged with tons of mail, most of witch goes straight into the trash dumpster. But when Jonah finds Annie's letter (which her friend kindly mailed for her), he believes that she is the right one for his dad. Fate must have a hand in all of this... except Annie has resigned herself that she and Walter are "perfect" for one another.

Of course going into this film you already know the ending. It's inevitable and relatively harmless, but unfortunately buys into that idea that true love must come with a first glance. In this instance, it's sweet but unlikely and one almost gets the sense that Annie is cheating on Walter; even if they're not yet married, they're already involved in a live-in relationship. Her sneaking up in the middle of the night to hide in a closet with the radio is concernedly reminiscent of a devious wife; her obsession with a stranger is also not healthy. Literally speaking, the film is a lot of fun. It has some hilarious moments, particularly when referencing the old Cary Grant movie An Affair to Remember (over which every woman in the film bawls), while the men sniffle hilariously over remembering some blood and guts war film. The cast is well-picked and it's interesting to see such young faces in the actors we all know and love by now. Meg Ryan is lovely, as always, with a sensible hairdo. Bill Pullman is barely recognizable and Tom Hanks looks like a big kid with a frou-frou hairstyle.

While buying into the "love at first sight" agenda, the film also has a few cautions to be wary of before you dash out and bring this one home. There are several passing references to sex, in addition to the fact that Annie and Walter are living together (and seen sleeping in the same bed). Annie's mom references her wedding night; Jonah brings up a few embarrassing moments in a little discussion with dad (to which he attributes his knowledge to "cable"), and Sam at one point has planned a weekend at a motel with a girlfriend (to "get laid"). There aren't any really noticeable profanities except for a muffled g-d-mn in the airport. With these few minor cravats, there's also a passing reference to reincarnation (but never fully explored; the writer leaves that one for the audience to ponder). All in all it's a fun popcorn flick that only the women in the family will fully appreciate.