Joe Fox from You’ve Got Mail is the best romantic hero

[Anonymous]

I love that movie but the Joe Fox character is actually rather manipulative and had I been Kathleen, I would have been angry at him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that movie but the Joe Fox character is actually rather manipulative and had I been Kathleen, I would have been angry at him.

+1. I mean, even Heath Ledger's character is "10 Things I Hate About You" felt guilty about the $$ and bought Julia Stiles a guitar with it. Joe Foxx used her to expand his empire and never seemed to apologize or try to make her business work too.

[Anonymous]

Come on, guys: the corporate tycoon is never a nice guy.

[Anonymous]

OP: He didn’t apologize because that would be disingenuous. What he did was listen to her, accept her point of view, empathize, give her space, then ask her forgiveness. She was angry with him! She still is, when she finds out he’s the online guy. She decides to forgive him, even though it’s hard - not because the problem has been “solved.”

Parker Posey wasn’t his wife.

Buying presents is not love.

[Anonymous]

I mean he is rich, good looking, her age (no kids), they have a lot in common, he helped her find her true calling (hint: it’s not small business) and he is totally committed to her (online and offline) while getting no sex - nowhere close to sex - in return. but women here think her falling for her does not make sense. Really. no wonder relationship forum is such a mess.

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t he le to her for at least half the movie?

[Anonymous]

Sorry - “...lie to her...”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry - “...lie to her...”

Yes, but he limits the lie to not revealing his identity in either setting. Importantly, he earns her friendship and then her love with his real identity. It’s true that she doesn’t know he’s also NY152. But before he tells her, he wants her to get to know him as himself. It’s definitely a complication and she can decide against him later but imo he’s still a great romantic lead and it’s a great story anyway. I mean in some sense, she’d already agreed to some subterfuge with the anonymous screen names. She doesn’t tell NY152 who she is either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. It gives me solace to know that his brick and mortar bookstore probably got crushed when Amazon came along.

I've mentioned this before on DCUM, but how would that relationship ever progress? Years later, you know they'd be in bed and some version of the following would take place:

Kathleen: Hey, remember when you put me out of business? That sure sucked.

Joe: When will you stop crucifying me with that!?

I could see that if she was professionally broken at the end of the movie, but that’s not the case. She had made peace with closing the shop and was moving on to the next phase of her career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry - “...lie to her...”

Yes, but he limits the lie to not revealing his identity in either setting. Importantly, he earns her friendship and then her love with his real identity. It’s true that she doesn’t know he’s also NY152. But before he tells her, he wants her to get to know him as himself. It’s definitely a complication and she can decide against him later but imo he’s still a great romantic lead and it’s a great story anyway. I mean in some sense, she’d already agreed to some subterfuge with the anonymous screen names. She doesn’t tell NY152 who she is either.

You don’t earn trust by not revealing your true identity.

The only reason the character works is because it’s Tom Hanks. Any other leading actor of the era—John Travolta, Michael Douglass, would not have worked.

Sleepless in Seattle is another sh*tty movie that only works b/c of the hanks factor.

Let me guess, Op, you also like Love Actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. It gives me solace to know that his brick and mortar bookstore probably got crushed when Amazon came along.

I've mentioned this before on DCUM, but how would that relationship ever progress? Years later, you know they'd be in bed and some version of the following would take place:

Kathleen: Hey, remember when you put me out of business? That sure sucked.

Joe: When will you stop crucifying me with that!?

I could see that if she was professionally broken at the end of the movie, but that’s not the case. She had made peace with closing the shop and was moving on to the next phase of her career.

She’s fine because she’s in love. Give that sh*t a few years and a couple of kids and she will begin to resent that he was so callous with her mother’s legacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry - “...lie to her...”

Yes, but he limits the lie to not revealing his identity in either setting. Importantly, he earns her friendship and then her love with his real identity. It’s true that she doesn’t know he’s also NY152. But before he tells her, he wants her to get to know him as himself. It’s definitely a complication and she can decide against him later but imo he’s still a great romantic lead and it’s a great story anyway. I mean in some sense, she’d already agreed to some subterfuge with the anonymous screen names. She doesn’t tell NY152 who she is either.

You don’t earn trust by not revealing your true identity.

The only reason the character works is because it’s Tom Hanks. Any other leading actor of the era—John Travolta, Michael Douglass, would not have worked.

Sleepless in Seattle is another sh*tty movie that only works b/c of the hanks factor.

Let me guess, Op, you also like Love Actually.

No but also fack you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry - “...lie to her...”

Yes, but he limits the lie to not revealing his identity in either setting. Importantly, he earns her friendship and then her love with his real identity. It’s true that she doesn’t know he’s also NY152. But before he tells her, he wants her to get to know him as himself. It’s definitely a complication and she can decide against him later but imo he’s still a great romantic lead and it’s a great story anyway. I mean in some sense, she’d already agreed to some subterfuge with the anonymous screen names. She doesn’t tell NY152 who she is either.

You don’t earn trust by not revealing your true identity.

The only reason the character works is because it’s Tom Hanks. Any other leading actor of the era—John Travolta, Michael Douglass, would not have worked.

Sleepless in Seattle is another sh*tty movie that only works b/c of the hanks factor.

Let me guess, Op, you also like Love Actually.

No but also fack you

Ha, ha. Wow, someone could use a sh*tty rom com to soothe their nerves.