It’s become a ritual for me: Every October, without fail, I put on You’ve Got Mail. It’s almost a seasonal reflex, like buying every pumpkin-spice-flavored product at Trader Joe’s. Between Kathleen Kelly’s quaint little bookshop and Joe Fox’s bouquet of newly sharpened pencils, it makes me sink right into the season.
It’s the cinematic equivalent of a cable-knit sweater. But the fall is long, and a girl cannot sustain herself on one movie alone (she’s tried, trust me). So, for those of us who’ve already knocked out our annual rewatch (or two, or three), here are a bunch of other cozy fall movies to snuggle up with.
From the Nora Ephron extended universe and bookish period pieces to the movies that somehow make Thanksgiving chaos look like something you actually want to revisit each year, these cozy fall movies have you covered. You’ve Got Mail is a remake of this Ernst Lubitsch classic, with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as bickering coworkers in a Budapest shop who are (you guessed it) secretly each other’s anonymous pen pals. Nora Ephron wrote it, and Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal made it iconic.
I mean, the Central Park autumn montage?! The cutesy “Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash” moment. Plus, you get the salad scene (yes, yes, yes) and a great “can men and women really just be friends” debate built in.
Ah, let’s travel back in time to the first Hanks-Ryan pairing under Ephron’s direction. Sure, this is technically more of a winter-into-Valentine’s watch, but I’d argue it still belongs in any comfort rotation that includes You’ve Got Mail. Ephron’s final film on the list pairs Meryl Streep in top form as Julia Child with Amy Adams, also in top form, as a blogger cooking her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Did I mention Stanley Tucci plays Julia’s beloved husband Paul? Just watch it with snacks or you’ll be making boeuf bourguignon at 10 p.m. Not Ephron, but pure peak-Meg: She plays a stressed-out New York marketing exec who, oopsie, falls for a 19th-century duke (played by Hugh Jackman, in waistcoats) who’s tumbled through time.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
