Silkwood (1983)

Superb drama about true-life events. 

Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) works at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site in Oklahoma with her lover Drew (Kurt Russell) and their friend Dolly (Cher). Making fuel rods for nuclear reactors, she is exposed to radiation owing to the company cutting corners on safety standards. She alerts the Atomic Energy Commission and helps them investigate, with significant consequences. 

Although it’s a biographical story with political elements, it works especially well as a domestic narrative. I really like the scenes between Karen, Drew and Dolly, who all live together. The human drama of their developing relationships seems very real and I’d have been happy to watch an entire film focusing on that. The fact that there’s a whole additional narrative is just a bonus. 

I could finally see what all the fuss was about regarding Streep. She’s riveting and hugely charismatic. Kurt Russell is also strong, once again taking on a somewhat sulky role. Cher is terrific too: in her role as a downbeat, almost monosyllabic lesbian she’s the opposite of what you’d expect based on her glitzy showbiz profule.

Directed by Mike Nichols and with a screenplay by Nora Ephron, this could hardly fail to be enthralling. Sure enough, it ends up being one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

Heartburn (1986)

Adapted by Nora Ephron from her own novel, this is a slightly disappointing drama about the ups and downs of a relationship. Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson play Rachel and Mark, and the film focuses on the couple's story from first meeting, through marrying, having children and facing up to Mark’s history of infidelity. 

There's some intriguing casting. Stockard Channing seems underused as a friend (she's too charismatic to be given such a minor part). Jeff Daniels is credible as Rachel’s editor. In his first film role, Kevin Spacey plays a thief on the subway.

Split between New York and Washington, D.C., the bittersweet narrative has comic moments but isn’t a comedy as such – despite what’s presented on the DVD box.

Carly Simon provides the theme song in “Coming Around Again”, which also recurs as “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. 

It’s not quite as engaging as you might hope. Streep and Nicholson are always excellent, but it could have been sharper, more poignant and more funny.

Julie & Julia (2009)

Nora Ephron’s comedy-drama tells the story of two cooks:

• in the 1950s, we follow the fortunes of Julia Child, an eccentric American, who popularised French cuisine in the USA. 

• in the early 2000s, we see New Yorker Julie Powell being inspired by Child’s book to cook all of its 524 recipes in just one year – and blog about the experience. 

It’s a curious biopic in that neither of the women meet. Nor are their individual stories especially noteworthy. But the way the film alternates between their two lives really works. 

Meryl Streep effectively captures Child’s manner. I thought she was hamming it up ludicrously, but a look at archive footage of Child reveals that her strange exclamations and lurching around are an accurate impersonation. Only the accent (not American enough) slightly lets it down. Amy Adams is extremely charming, giving off a vulnerability and emotional depth that makes it very easy to identify with her. 

Stanley Tucci, and Chris Messina play the two husbands. The former is especially strong as the diplomat continually being relocated. It’s refreshing that his love for Childs is so pure and uncomplicated.

When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

This romantic comedy directed by Rob Reiner isn’t up to his usual standards. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan play the mutually attracted New Yorkers intent on staying just friends. There are some funny moments, but others fall flat. Billy Crystal emerges as difficult to like. I know that’s meant to be part of the character, but the problem is that I kept disliking him even after we were supposed to believe he had finally stopped being shallow and grown up.

Meg Ryan is as charming as ever and makes acting seem very natural. In particular, her crying scene – in which he hands her tissues and she tosses them over her shoulder – is brilliantly done. Carrie Fisher plays their friend (comically named Marie Fisher) and is also excellent. But overall, something was missing – chemistry, perhaps. Or maybe it’s just not believable enough.

Nora Ephron would go on to write funnier Meg Ryan films – Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You’ve Got Mail (1998).

Music from Another Room (1998)

Extremely unusual romantic comedy. 

It’s 1973. The five-year-old Danny (Cory Buck) is with his father, visiting family friend Grace (Brenda Blethyn). Grace is about to give birth and – bizarrely – Danny helps save the baby by freeing the umbilical cord round its neck. When the baby, Anna, is born he announces that one day he will marry her. Twenty-five years later, Danny (now played by Jude Law) is back in the USA and has a chance meeting with the Swan family. (He would have just decided to visit them, but the writers clearly preferred a far more unlikely scenario.) He sees Anna (Gretchen Mol) and falls in love. But Anna is part of a big, complicated family and about to get engaged to a man she doesn’t really love. 

The film is strange in many ways. The plot doesn’t really ring true, but the members of the family are quirky, well-drawn characters and you are quickly drawn into their world. There’s a blind sister, a suicidal sister and a slightly odd sister. 

There’s a thread about Anna Karenina running through it, and the sisters are named Anna, Karen and Nina accordingly. Some of their stories don’t quite work (the suicidal sister actually shoots her husband and nothing more is said about it). A writer such as Nora Ephron or Woody Allen would have done a better job of neatly tying those threads together. But the film exudes charm and all of the performances are hugely likeable. There are genuinely touching parts and a few laughs too.

One Fine Day (1996)

Rom-com about two single-parent New Yorkers. 

Journalist Jack (George Clooney) meets architect Melanie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and – across a hectic day involving career and childcare challenges – the pair have to put aside their differences and help each other. 

It’s nearly brilliant, but the script just isn’t sharp or funny enough. The two leads are both excellent, and there’s plenty of chemistry, but even with their considerable talents the dialogue cannot sparkle and the humour cannot hit home. For example, a thread about the couple accidentally switching mobile phones isn’t sufficiently mined for comic effect. A more skilled writer (such as Nora Ephron) would have done so much more with it. 

It’s a shame because Clooney and Pfeiffer exude charm and their performances are worthy of a better film than this.