Ground-breaking in its departure from its predecessors, When Harry Met Sally (1989) established classic romantic comedy themes and tropes still being employed today. Placing the film in its historical, social and generic contexts, Tamar Jeffers-McDonald explores how writer Nora Ephron and director Rob Reiner used structure, filmic devices, music and classic romcom concepts in innovative new ways. In her fresh and timely appraisal of this definitive, much-loved classic, Jeffers McDonald reflects on the film's enduring legacy and influence on popular culture to give readers a wider perspective on the continuing evolution and importance of the romcom genre.

Tamar Jeffers McDonald is Reader in Film Studies at the University of Kent, UK. She is the author of Hollywood Catwalk: Reading Costume and Transformation in American Film (2010) and Doris Day Confidential: Hollywood Sex and Stardom (2013).