We all remember the ending of Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron’s romantic comedy, “When Harry Met Sally…” After a disastrous romantic encounter, longtime friends Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) are at odds, with Sally alone at a New Year’s Eve party feeling depressed and Harry also alone on the streets of New York. They finally reunite – at which point Harry gives one of the most romantic speeches in cinematic history. Apparently, Reiner – who died at his home in Brentwood, California, on December 14, 2025 with his wife Michele Singer, both victims of an apparent homicide – was originally so disillusioned with love that he was going to finish the film without Harry and Sally together.
“They were both going to see each other after years, talk and then move away from each other,” Reiner told CNN’s Chris Wallace (via The Hollywood Reporter) during an interview in early 2024 before explaining that following his divorce from fellow director Penny Marshall, he was adrift…and feeling inspired.
“I was married for 10 years,” Reiner said of Marshall, with whom he shared adopted daughter Tracy Reiner. “I had been single for 10 years and couldn’t figure out how I was ever going to be with anyone, and that gave birth to ‘When Harry Met Sally’.” Then everything changed when Reiner met Singer. “I met my wife Michele, who I’ve been married to for 35 years now. I met her while we were making the movie and I changed the ending,” Reiner said. When Wallace continued his line of questioning and asked if Singer’s mere existence gave “When Harry Met Sally…” its happy ending, Reiner replied, “It does.”
The ending of When Harry Met Sally… is one of the sweetest conclusions in romantic comedy history.
Let’s talk more about this ending. After initially hating each other when they first met decades before, and then slowly becoming friends over the years, Harry and Sally’s reunion at the aforementioned New Year’s party essentially sets the standard for every romantic comedy made after 1989 (the year it was released). Harry sprints through the streets of Manhattan before finding an aggrieved Sally at the party, who is frustrated beyond belief and genuinely thinks she’s Harry’s second choice or that he’s settling for her because he’s alone and it’s New Year’s Eve. Aided by some of Nora Ephron’s best writing, Harry sets the record straight:
“I love that you’re cold when it’s 71 degrees outside. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you have a little crease above your nose when you look at me like I’m crazy. I love that after spending the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes, and I love that you’re the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And that’s not because I’m alone, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
Throughout “When Harry Met Sally…” we see interview footage of real-life couples talking about how they met and got married. In the epilogue, the recently married Harry and Sally are seen briefly discussing their own love affair. It’s amazing to realize that without Michele Singer, none of this would be possible.
Rob Reiner was a Hollywood titan, and When Harry Met Sally… might just be his finest work
I’ve said it in a ranking of the five best Rob Reiner films, but it bears repeating: “When Harry Met Sally…” might just be the director’s best film of all time. (Quibble with me all you want!) Reiner himself acknowledged how great this love story is, pointing out that it’s also a strangely impossible film.
“It’s an incredible movie, I have to say, because there’s no plot,” Crystal told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019 for a feature celebrating the film’s 30th anniversary. “In typical romantic comedies, they go through so much: their adversity, he had to move, he was drafted, he’s in the military, he came back, they found each other – no. The obstacle in this movie is themselves.” He’s right, and if I’m honest, I’ve watched “When Harry Met Sally…” dozens of times and never thought of it that way. The only thing standing between Harry and Sally’s true love is their own shared stubbornness and refusal to admit that they are more than just friends, even after a one-night stand that leaves them both slightly humiliated as they fall back into bad intimacy habits (Harry wants to run for the hills, while Sally is basically ready to propose).
“When Harry Met Sally…” is a character study masquerading as a romantic comedy, and that’s probably what makes it so great. Instead of focusing on the plots and army plans and all that, Reiner just lets two characters fall in love on screen. It’s a testament to Reiner’s talent as a director, and this film will always remain an important part of his legacy; it will also be part of Michele Singer’s legacy.
