
Wesley has been thinking a lot this week about what Rob Reiner gave us. Not the best movies. But our favorite ones. He wanted us to feel good. And for Wesley, no movie hit that pleasure center more than “When Harry Met Sally.” He watched it over and over as a teenager. It’s probably why he moved to New York. He wanted what they were having. This week, Wesley reflects on the impact Reiner had on his life, and shares a conversation he had on The Daily — involving a very extended appreciation of that famous diner scene.
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Wesley Morris
I'm Wesley Morris and this is Cannonball Today. Waiter, there's some pepper in my paprikash. Like a lot of people, I've been thinking a lot about Rob Reiner this week and I've been thinking about him as an actor and how much fun he was to watch steal scenes in movies and on TV shows. I've especially been thinking about his movies and all of the joy that they have brought me over all these years. I mean, you know, everybody knows the movies. The Princess Bride, this is Spinal Tap, the American President, Misery, A Few Good Men, those sure thing people out there. I'm with you. I love that movie too. But I also was thinking about something I didn't even know to think until this week, which is that I live in New York, probably because of Rob Reiner. I live in this city because I watched When Harry met Sally about 4,500 times. I was about 13 the first time I saw it. And there was something about watching Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan come to New York City from somewhere else and try to make a life here separately and then together. I guess I fell in love with these two actors who I didn't know very well before I saw this movie. And I just wanted to have what they were having, which is New York City. And I became a New Yorker. And so much of my life here involves trying to be some combination of Harry and Sally. Just like a crank and a romantic with a very practical side. I order like Sally, which means I'm very particular when I place my order and sometimes prefer everything on the side. And I date like Harry, or at least I used to. And living in this city, everybody's working hard. Ain't nobody not working hard. But the thing that's lovely about When Harry Met Sally is you don't see any of that. You don't see any of the hard work. You see the romantic experience of walking and talking. This city and in the deepest zones of my heart, that's the New York that I fantasize about living in. That's the New York that I came here to live in. Harry and Sally's New York. Rob Reiner's New York. I never met him, but I would definitely, if I had ever had the chance, I would have expressed my gratitude to him just for that. This one movie kind of changed the course of my life. So when the folks at the Daily asked me if I wanted to have a conversation about Rob Reiner, I was like, yeah, I would love that. That would be wonderful. I. I got into his studio and I talked to Michael Barbaro about this man, the meaning of his work, and one particular scene in the movie that made me want to come to the greatest city in the world, New York City. So this week, we here at Cannonball thought it would be fun to share that conversation with you. Here we go. This is me and Michael Barbaro talking about Rob Reiner.
Michael Barbaro
Wesley, thank you for making time for us.
Wesley Morris
Of course. I mean, I'm sad that it has to be under these circumstances.
Michael Barbaro
It's a really sad circumstance. And the reason we've asked you to come in the studio is because we wanted a critic's assessment of the career and the work of Rob Reiner. You are the Times chief critic. You're also, and I know this from firsthand experience, a genuine film buff. So in that context, what is the significance, in your mind of Reiner and the films that he directed? What kind of a filmmaker was he, in your mind?
Wesley Morris
He was the sort of director who was really interested in pleasing people. Right. He wanted to make movies that made people happy, even when they were like dark movies. He was looking for a way to find the pleasure centers that we, as moviegoers needed met when we went to a movie theater or, you know, because a lot of the times with Reiner, you would be watching these movies at home over and over and over again.
Michael Barbaro
Over and over and over again. Because they somehow made their way onto your TV screen at home over and over and over.
Wesley Morris
Oh, yeah. Whether you went to a video store and pulled one of those movies off the shelf or it was just on cable all the time, the thing about them that is so wonderful is also the thing that made Rob Reiner kind of. He wasn't a critics director, Right. In a lot of ways, you go back and read the reviews of his movies, and it would always be the charge would be the movies didn't go far enough, they didn't go deep enough. They weren't getting into, like, the nitty gritty of human relationships in the way that they probably could have Right.
Michael Barbaro
In fact, I went through this exercise within the last 24 hours, and it should be humbling to the film critics of the world. You go back and look at the reviews of something like Stand By Me.
Wesley Morris
Sure.
Actor (Harry)
I just wish that I could go someplace where nobody knows me.
Michael Barbaro
In the Times. Too much saccharine, sure. But that. That's not the experience of a young Michael Barbaro watching Stand By Me and finding it to be a complete revelation of what brotherhood, fraternity, and youthful adventure might look like.
Wesley Morris
I mean, I think the thing about Rob Reiner that's this important to make the distinction between is a question of what the greatest movies are and what your favorite movies are.
Michael Barbaro
He makes your favorites.
Wesley Morris
That man has made your favorite movie. He's made one of your favorite movies, and everybody's got one. I mean, one of those Rob Reiner movies from 1984 to 1996 is definitely one of your homies. I mean, a few of them are mine. Okay, the sure thing in Misery, but definitely When Harry Met Sally. I mean, come on. There's a couple things with Rob Reiner that makes this outpouring of grief over his death important. His peak as a director was at a time when the movies were interested in just simple things brought to life by a good script and a couple of stars. These are not values the movies have anymore. These are bygone aspects of American moviemaking. And he embodied. He was one of the principal embodiments, his movies were of that era. For me, When Harry Met Sally was great because it had these two people that I kind of knew, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. Rob Reiner made them movie stars. This movie made them movie stars.
Michael Barbaro
It's kind of hard to imagine that they weren't movie stars before that, but.
Wesley Morris
Somehow, yeah, you'd seen them in things before. And, you know, Billy Crystal was a well known comic and Meg Ryan was somebody who'd been in other movies as like a supporting character. And you also had in Harry Met Sally this great script by Nora Ephron. Nora Ephron, William Goldman, Aaron Sorkin, they wrote the great Rob Reiner movies. And he knew what to do with a good screenplay and good actors. And part of the pleasure of watching them all congeal, just come together and, you know, transmogrify into this, like, amazing experience of just feeling right. I mean, you watch the Princess Bride and it's all exuberance. You watch When Harry Met Sally and it's just whatever you believe about people getting together and, like, spending time with each other and communicating, it's amazing.
Actor (Harry)
You look like a normal person, but actually, you are the angel of Death.
Actor (Sally)
Are you gonna marry him?
Actor (Harry)
We have only known each other for a month. And besides, neither one of us is looking to get married right now.
Actor (Sally)
I'm getting married.
Wesley Morris
You are? Mm.
Supporting Voice/Announcer
You are?
Wesley Morris
Yeah. Just some great talking.
Michael Barbaro
Well, you're getting on your own to what I deeply would love for you to do.
Wesley Morris
Okay.
Michael Barbaro
Which is to take us into one scene of a Reiner directed film. And at this point, I have to believe, because of what you've already said, that that scene is gonna be coming from When Harry Met Sally.
Wesley Morris
Sure.
Michael Barbaro
And there's a lot of scenes in that movie.
Wesley Morris
I think When Harry Met Sally. To me, it's the peak of all his priorities as a filmmaker. The human part, the love part. And obviously, if you're gonna boil this movie down to one scene, it's the diner scene. Right. It's the deli scene.
Michael Barbaro
Mm.
Wesley Morris
Meg Ryan, Sally and Billy Crystal. Who's Harry? These people have been friends now for a few years, and they are very familiar with the cadences of each other's dating and sex lives. They go to have lunch one day and they proceed to talk about Harry's latest disappointment romantically.
Michael Barbaro
It's not working out.
Wesley Morris
It's not working out. And she's gone. And he has moved on.
Actor (Harry)
So what do you do with these women? You just get up out of bed and leave?
Supporting Voice/Announcer
Sure.
Actor (Harry)
Well, explain to me how you do it. What do you say?
Actor (Sally)
I say I have an early meeting, early haircut, early squash game.
Actor (Harry)
You don't play squash.
Actor (Sally)
They don't know that. They just met me.
Actor (Harry)
That's disgusting.
Wesley Morris
I know.
Actor (Sally)
I feel terrible.
Wesley Morris
And she's like, well, you probably wouldn't know that a woman's never been satisfied by you.
Actor (Sally)
Hey, I don't feel great about this, but I don't hear anyone complaining.
Actor (Harry)
Of course not. You're out the door too fast.
Actor (Sally)
I think they have an okay time.
Actor (Harry)
How do you know?
Actor (Sally)
I mean, how do I know? I know.
Wesley Morris
And he's like, I think I would know because I. I was there. I created the satisfaction.
Actor (Harry)
Because they.
Actor (Sally)
Yes, because they.
Actor (Harry)
How do you know that they're really.
Actor (Sally)
What are you saying? That they fake orgasm?
Wesley Morris
And she's like, meg Ryan. Sally says, well, why?
Actor (Harry)
Most women at one time or another have faked it.
Wesley Morris
I'm telling you that most women at some point in their lives have faked it.
Actor (Sally)
Well, they haven't faked it with me.
Actor (Harry)
How do you know?
Actor (Sally)
Because I know.
Wesley Morris
And he's like, no, they haven't that's insane.
Supporting Voice/Announcer
Right?
Wesley Morris
That's right.
Actor (Harry)
I forgot you're a man.
Actor (Sally)
What is that supposed to mean?
Actor (Harry)
Nothing. It's just that all men are sure it never happened to them. And most women at one time or another have done it. So you do the math.
Actor (Sally)
You don't think that I can tell the difference?
Wesley Morris
No.
Actor (Sally)
Get out of here.
Wesley Morris
So cut. The Meg Ryan. Her eyes go, oh, okay. There's like a twinkle, Like a little mischievous twinkle. She's telling us, she's telegraphing to us what she's about to do. And she kind of half smiles. And she proceeds to start her orgasm.
Michael Barbaro
Ooh.
Actor (Sally)
Oh.
Actor (Harry)
Oh.
Actor (Sally)
Are you okay?
Wesley Morris
And she does not break. And this is a really difficult thing to do, both directing and editing wise, because you have to. There's a rhythm that has to be maintained here.
Actor (Harry)
Oh, God. Ooh. Oh, God.
Wesley Morris
But you also have to establish that she is staying in this orgasm and he is going to suffer through the discomfort of watching her perform it.
Actor (Harry)
Oh, yeah, right there.
Michael Barbaro
And that all of this, we should just remind the listener, revolves around the consumption of a very average looking sandwich.
Wesley Morris
That's. We gotta talk about the sandwich. Cause it's just a pile of meat. But there's a cut to Harry in his increasing awareness that what is happening is happening. And he is about to lose this argument. But Billy Crystal is performing increasing mortification at the fact. It's interesting because it's simultaneously him losing this argument and him being embarrassed by this spectacle that she's creating. And there's so many looks on his face of just like, oh, my God. She's, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And he's like, oh, my God. And so there's this tension, there's this, like, physics between his mortification and her ecstasy. And an important thing happens at about the 30th second in this scene. Wow. You really does well of the orgasm part of this scene. The scene goes like three minutes long. It's this. The camera's on Meg Ryan mid fake orgasm. And a man turns around behind her and he is wearing a Yankees cap. And he is completely deadpan, but looking in her direction. And it's just the two of them in this shot. And you realize, oh, my God. You as a viewer realize they're not gonna do the thing that a television show would do. This is the Rob Reiner going to the movies part. This is Nora Ephron knowing how the world works. We're not gonna pretend that this is a closed environment and these people are just here to make you think you're in a diner, people are going to hear this orgasm.
Michael Barbaro
Lots of people.
Wesley Morris
Because it could have ended just like that. It could have ended the minute that guy in the Yankees cap turns around. Even before that, Billy Crystal was selling the comedy in this bit as much as Meg Ryan is. You could have just ended it right there. That scene could have ended, and she was like, I rest my case. But instead, this scene goes on for, like, another 30 seconds.
Michael Barbaro
Yeah, it's deeply uncomfortable.
Wesley Morris
No, Michael, no. It's not uncomfortable at all. It's hilarious.
Michael Barbaro
Hilariously uncomfortable.
Wesley Morris
And the thing that makes it hilarious is us. The people watching this woman fake this orgasm. They don't know she's faking it. They don't know what's going on. This sandwich must be real good. This pile of meat must be doing something to this woman every subsequent shot. During this sequence, we've established how Meg Ryan is gonna perform her fake orgasm. We understand that Billy Crystal is mortified. But now we spend the rest of this sequence, most of the rest of it, watching everybody else in the deli react.
Actor (Harry)
Oh, yes.
Wesley Morris
Like, not even react. They're just watching her do this. And it's. It's an amazing sight because some people are concerned. Some people are like, you know, it's New York. So this is also one of the great New York movies, right? So it's New York, and people are like, oh, it's orgasm day, I guess, in the deli. Okay, great. Fantastic. And she reaches her climax. Yes. Yes.
Actor (Harry)
Oh.
Michael Barbaro
Oh.
Actor (Harry)
Oh, God.
Wesley Morris
She picks up her fork, she stabs her salad, or whatever it is that's on that plate. She takes a bite. And we go from shot, reverse, shot, cutaway, cutaway, cutaway, to a. Like, I would say a master shot of the two of them facing each other in the booth. And you can see in the background two women also having a meal, looking at Meg Ryan. No. And the famous line. Because the scene could have ended.
Michael Barbaro
Right, Right.
Wesley Morris
We were done. We're done. We're done. This scene is already killed. But he goes for it. We're done. And this woman says to the waiter, you know the line, I'll have what she's having.
Michael Barbaro
I'll have what she's having. Yeah. It's one of the most memorable lines in all of cinema.
Wesley Morris
It never gets old. You could watch that once a week and still pee your pants.
Michael Barbaro
Because that's how joyful it is.
Wesley Morris
It's just how joyful it is. Also, it's so New York. I just.
Michael Barbaro
By the way, that's his mom. Who says it?
Wesley Morris
Oh, yeah. Estelle Reiner is the person who delivers the line perfection, perfection. But also the thing that kills is not just the line. It's the look of like, I guess I'll have to have what she's having. Like, her face is like, it's not. She does not look delighted. She looks kind of disgusted and repulsed. But it's like, I just need to see what this is all about. It's as funny as it is because Rob Reiner keeps going, right? And he understands there's still another joke in there somewhere. I want to get all the jokes out. We'll be right back.
Narrator/Announcer
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Wesley Morris
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Wesley Morris
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Michael Barbaro
So I want to pause.
Wesley Morris
Yeah.
Michael Barbaro
For just a moment and talk about how you. How we should juxtapose all of the hilarity and joy that you just described that defines these films. How we're supposed to hold that in one hand and the brutality and the awfulness of how his life ends in the other.
Wesley Morris
The terrible thing about this death. A terrible thing about it in terms of the millions of people who never met, didn't know Rob Reiner, but whose lives were touched by his work is that the work was about the opposite of how he died. And yet, you know, the very moving aspect of this grisly tragedy is, I mean, from all reports, you know, the Reiners were determined to, like, help their son. Right. The ethos of the family life is the ethos of the filmmaking. You know, sometimes to the movie's detriment, because the movies didn't want to go to really dark places. The movies weren't about the real darknesses. Right. The real difficulties. They were about the. The attempt to believe in our better natures, our better selves. And that is what is so shocking about his death. But, you know, I was, you know, as one, as at least I do. When great or important people die in.
Michael Barbaro
Popular culture, you were often tasked with eulogizing them in print.
Wesley Morris
Yeah. And so you go back and you look and see how things went for them in real time, or how they've been memorialized before their death, how their work is considered. And I found, you know, one of the great tomes, one of the great movie projects ever.
Michael Barbaro
Yeah. You're holding a very, very thick book.
Wesley Morris
Is David Thompson's Biographical Dictionary of Film. It's right here. I've got a new biographical dictionary for.
Michael Barbaro
Yeah.
Wesley Morris
Christine Merriam Webster's of movies, written by one man, David Thompson. And his Rob Reiner entry is kind of amazing because he's a little more dismissive of the wonderful movies. He gets it, but he doesn't really. They're not for him, apparently. But here's what he says in his dismount, and it's deep. As a director, Rob Reiner, he seemed more struck or Polaxed by the notion that niceness could save the world. It is a petty thought, but one that stifles so many human and social realities. And so his work turns to Pie in the sky, with good and bad all too clearly labeled. He's carried along by a fundamental decency in a sense of scenes that play. But his films are predictable from their first moments, and they begin to establish a weird, dumb orthodoxy that if we're good to our kids, everything will be okay. This is not true. Life is more interesting.
Narrator/Announcer
Wow.
Wesley Morris
I mean, that is. Rob Reiner was very alive when that was written, and I think that is terribly prescient. I think the thing that made him lovable, Rob Reiner as a human being, the reason he was so beloved by so many, many different people, was that he really believed in the fundamental goodness of people, no matter what. It's an impossible situation for a parent to Turn your back on a child.
Michael Barbaro
And in the end, he did not.
Wesley Morris
And he didn't. Because those movies were this man, for better and for worse, but ultimately for better because they were about our better selves. This was a man who believed in life. He believed in people. And the movies stand as a testament to that belief as far as I'm concerned. And when it clicked, and for like, I'd say 10 years, this man was humming, it really, really, really made people happy, the work that he made. And it's just that, you know, there's the family tragedy part and then there is the happy guy part. He just seemed like such a joyful, like he was a big bear of a man and you just, he seemed like either he was gonna hug you or you could hug him completely and he would be okay with that. His movies were like that too. For the most part. They're always there to hug you. And if you want to hug them back, feel free because they're on HBO.
Michael Barbaro
Right now and Netflix and Amazon. Wesley, thank you very, very much.
Wesley Morris
Appreciate it, Michael. You're welcome. And I'm sorry that, I'm sorry that I have to be here to do it.
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Supporting Voice/Announcer
New York Times subscription.
Actor (Sally)
She sent me a year long subscription.
Wesley Morris
So I have access to all the games.
Actor (Sally)
We'll do Wordle mini spelling bee.
Wesley Morris
It has given us a personal connection. We exchange articles and so having read the same article, we can discuss it. The coverage, the options. It's not just news. Such a diversified disc. I was really excited to give him a New York Times cooking subscription so that we could share recipes and we.
Narrator/Announcer
Even just shared a recipe the other day.
Wesley Morris
The New York Times contributes to our quality time together. You have all of that information at your fingertips. It enriches our relationship, broadening our horizons. It was such a cool and thoughtful gift. We're reading the same stuff, we're making the same food. We're on the same page. Connect even more with someone you care about. Learn more about giving a New York Times subscription as a gift@nytimes.com gift.
Michael Barbaro
Today's episode was produced by Michael Simon Johnson, Mooj Sethi and Luke Van Der Plug. It was edited by Brendan Klinkenberg and Michael Benoit. Contains music by Diane Wong and Dan Powell and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. That's it for the Daily I'm Michael Barbara.
Wesley Morris
See you tomorrow.
Episode: Rob Reiner Made Your Favorite Movie
Date: December 18, 2025
Host: Wesley Morris
Guest: Michael Barbaro
This episode is a heartfelt conversation between film critic Wesley Morris and journalist Michael Barbaro, reflecting on the cultural significance and enduring impact of director Rob Reiner, who recently passed away. Morris discusses how Reiner's films—particularly When Harry Met Sally—shaped not only his cinematic tastes but also his personal life, even inspiring his move to New York City. The discussion explores Reiner’s unique qualities as a filmmaker, the magic of his most famous scenes, and the bittersweet contrast between the joy his work brought to millions and the tragedy of his family life.
Reiner's Approach:
Morris describes Reiner as a director whose primary motivation was to make people happy, even when tackling darker subject matter:
"He was the sort of director who was really interested in pleasing people. Right. He wanted to make movies that made people happy, even when they were like dark movies." – Wesley Morris [05:05]
Reiner's Relationship with Critics:
Reiner was not typically a 'critic’s director', often criticized for not delving deeply enough into the complexities of the human condition:
"You go back and read the reviews of his movies, and it would always be the charge would be the movies didn't go far enough, they didn't go deep enough." – Wesley Morris [05:43]
Reiner Makes Your Favorites:
Morris distinguishes between 'great' movies and 'favorite' movies, positioning Reiner as the director of people’s favorite films rather than technically 'great' ones:
"He makes your favorites. That man has made your favorite movie. He's made one of your favorite movies, and everybody's got one." – Wesley Morris [07:13]
Essence of Reiner's Movies:
The films are described as simple, star-driven, and script-focused—a style that is less prevalent in today’s cinema:
"His peak as a director was at a time when the movies were interested in just simple things brought to life by a good script and a couple of stars." – Wesley Morris [07:44]
Scene Breakdown:
At Barbaro's prompting, Morris deconstructs the iconic "deli scene" in When Harry Met Sally, spotlighting the timing, performance, and enduring humor:
"If you're gonna boil this movie down to one scene, it's the diner scene. Right. It's the deli scene." – Wesley Morris [10:11]
"There's a rhythm that has to be maintained here...you have to establish that she is staying in this orgasm and he is going to suffer through the discomfort of watching her perform it." – Wesley Morris [13:07]
Reiner’s Direction and Comic Mastery:
Morris gives special praise to how Reiner never lets up, always "looking for another joke in there" and making even side-characters' reactions part of the film’s magic:
"It's as funny as it is because Rob Reiner keeps going, right? And he understands there's still another joke in there somewhere. I want to get all the jokes out." – Wesley Morris [18:04]
Memorable Line & Cameo:
The famous punchline "I'll have what she's having" is both legendary and deeply personal for Morris, who notes its delivery by Reiner's own mother, Estelle Reiner:
"By the way, that's his mom. Who says it?" – Michael Barbaro [18:02]
"Oh, yeah. Estelle Reiner is the person who delivers the line perfection, perfection." – Wesley Morris [18:04]
Scene’s Lasting Impact:
Morris attributes his move to New York to the movie's vision of city life, noting the uniquely romantic and fantastical "Rob Reiner's New York":
"That's the New York that I fantasize about living in. That's the New York that I came here to live in. Harry and Sally's New York. Rob Reiner's New York." – Wesley Morris [03:24]
The Tragedy of Reiner’s Passing:
Remarking on the contradiction between the joy Reiner brought and his tragic family life, Morris points out that Reiner’s work focused on decency and hope, not darkness:
"The work was about the opposite of how he died...the movies didn't want to go to really dark places...they were about the attempt to believe in our better natures, our better selves." – Wesley Morris [20:57]
What Reiner Believed:
Quoting film writer David Thomson, Morris explores the idea that Reiner was “struck by the notion that niceness could save the world,” then offers his own reflection:
"I think the thing that made him lovable, Rob Reiner as a human being, the reason he was so beloved by so many, many different people, was that he really believed in the fundamental goodness of people, no matter what." – Wesley Morris [23:41]
The Hug Analogy:
Morris likens Reiner and his films to a warm, ever-present embrace:
"He was a big bear of a man...His movies were like that too. For the most part. They're always there to hug you. And if you want to hug them back, feel free because they're on HBO." – Wesley Morris [25:01]
The episode is a moving tribute to Rob Reiner's gift for uplifting, deeply rewatchable movies that shaped American culture and individual lives alike. With warmth and wit, Morris and Barbaro celebrate Reiner's talent for blending humor, decency, and romance, framing his legacy around both iconic film moments and the larger, sincere worldview he shared through his art.