Week 2 Day 2: Characterization Scene — WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

[Lynn Vincentnathan]

WATCH 1ST TIME FOR:

BASIC SCENE COMPONENTS — SCENE ARC, SITUATION, CONFLICT, ENTERTAINMENT VALUE, MOVING THE STORY FORWARD, AND SETUP/PAYOFFS.

– Sally & Harry (who are “friends,” not “lovers”) are in a diner discussion about dating. Sally accuses Harry of leaving too early (not getting to know the women) and it progresses to a discussion of female orgasms, which Sally says women do fake sometimes. Harry says it never happened to him, so she fakes an orgasm there in public, people watching, then calming resumes eating. This is very funny, she is teaching him about women, and there is a lot of conflict and banter between them.

– as a extremely good comedic topper (which I understand was not in the original script) a woman at another table (I think Reiner’s mother) after seeing Sally’s “orgasm,” says, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

– moves it forward because Sally is really teaching a lot about women to Harry, which she may not have been able to do it they were lovers instead of friends. (The whole movie is a debate between them about whether women can be friends with a man, which Harry says is impossible.)

WATCH 2ND TIME FOR:

WHAT MAKES THIS SCENE GREAT?

– even though it is “talking heads” in a diner, what they say and the action performance of Sally make it really great.

– it is also probably the breaking point in which Harry begins to have more respect for Sally AND interest/attraction.

HOW DOES EACH CHARACTER SPEAK AND ACT FROM THEIR UNIQUE CHARACTER PROFILES?

UNIQUE CHARACTER ACTION AND DIALOGUE-

– Harry has been taking the upper hand of know-it-all to this point, with Sally (appearing to be somewhat of a light feather-head to Harry) unable to convince him of anything by her words. Now she has convinced him of something by her action.

WHAT MAKES THIS SCENE GREAT FROM A WRITING PERSPECTIVE

– sex sells, and so does really good comedy. This has both.

[Ann Marie]

This is a brilliant scene which opens with the lead female saying how glad she is that she never got involved with the male lead, because he would only ditch her to go polish his irons.

It is witty and also incisive, telling us the audiene what kind of character this guy is. The lead male is oblivious to any hurt he may have caused, telling her that he’s pretty sure the ladies enjoyed their time with him. What makes him so sure, she asks. Oh, because they had an orgasm? She then continues by insinuating a woman can fake an orgasm and gives stats as to why it is likely someone faked one with him. He is so full sure of his abilities that she lays down her fork and starts there and then, acting out a full on orgasm, from the opening ooh to the final Yes. It is hilarious and has a brilliant punchine, which all adds to the brilliance of the scene, but it is also extremely revealing about the two leads. He’s a bit of a dog and she’s a very savvy, unselfconscious, clever and witty female lead.

Through extremely imaginative dialogue, actions and wit, we learn so much about each of the lead characters, as well as being highly engaged and entertained.

This is the kind of witty scene in a romcom that would get lead actors lining up to play these parts, because the writing is brilliant and who wouldn’t want to fake an orgasm in a diner, if it comes to it?