--- title: "You've Got Mail: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/youve-got-mail/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/youve-got-mail" critics_score: 57 critics_reviews: 9 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # You've Got Mail (1998): what the critics said Critics' score 57 from 9 reviews: 2 positive, 4 mixed, 3 negative. Most critics find You’ve Got Mail pleasant without finding it much more than that: the score sits in the middle, and the reviews are spread fairly evenly across positive, mixed and negative. Where there is agreement, it is on the leads. Nearly every review, whether it ends up for or against the film, singles out the rapport between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and the warmer notices credit Nora Ephron with a lively touch and a fondly photographed Manhattan. The reservations gather around the romance itself. Several critics find the central relationship oddly unromantic, closer to a business arrangement than a courtship, and the supporting cast is repeatedly described as underused. The harsher reviews go further, calling the film too sweet, too cute and short on wit, and Time Out judges it a poor remake of Lubitsch’s original. The spread is wide: Variety and Total Film are firmly won over, while Slant and Eye for Film are not. ## Total Film — Total Film Rating 4/5. 26 February 1999. The review calls it a charming, classy romantic comedy that proves Ephron, Hanks and Ryan are in a class of their own. It praises the leads’ comic timing and Manhattan’s lovingly captured atmosphere, while noting the supporting cast is underused. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/youve-got-mail-review/) ## Variety — Lael Loewenstein Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 13 December 1998. The critic calls the film a winning romantic comedy and an especially successful version of a familiar story. She praises Hanks and Ryan’s chemistry and Ephron’s lively direction, while faulting the weak supporting roles. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/you-ve-got-mail-1200456233/) ## RogerEbert.com Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). The page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It provides no praise or complaint to identify. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/youve-got-mail-1998) ## The New York Times Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 18 December 1998. The page could not be accessed, so the critic’s verdict is unavailable. No specific praise or complaint can be verified from the supplied text. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/18/movies/film-review-hanks-ryan-romancecom.html) ## Radio Times — David Parkinson Rating 3/5. Parkinson finds the romantic comedy winsome but ultimately frustratingly unromantic and less amusing than it should be. He particularly faults the leads’ relationship, which feels more like a merger than an infatuation. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-64wyhi/youve-got-mail/) ## Empire — Angie Errigo Fi1m's normalised score 58/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. Errigo finds the film sweet-natured and entertaining, but ultimately too slight to sustain its length. She praises the ingratiating chemistry between Hanks and Ryan, while faulting the writing and direction for a weak romantic payoff. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/ve-got-mail-review/) ## Slant Magazine — John Lingan Fi1m's normalised score 35/100 (inferred from the text). 29 March 2011. The critic finds the film irritating and overly cute, though its final half-hour becomes charming once it drops the corporate conflict. He praises the leads’ rapport and the sequence of initially platonic outings, while faulting the film for sanitizing its source material. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/take-two-16-the-shop-around-the-corner-1940-youve-got-mail-1998/) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). The available description suggests the critic considers Ephron’s remake inferior to Lubitsch’s original. The comparison to the original is the only discernible criticism; the review text is unavailable. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/youve-got-mail) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2001. The critic finds the film overly sweet and lacking in wit, humor, and originality. The online-message romance works as a fantasy love outlet, but the overall package feels overpriced. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/youve-got-mail-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/youve-got-mail.md