In these high-pressured times, conversational intimacy can be sexy and alluring especially when clothed in mystery online. Corporate heir Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) lives with a shrewish editor (Parker Posey) but is secretly carrying on with "Shopgirl" on the Internet. Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) is involved with a columnist (Greg Kinnear) and runs the Shop Around the Corner, a children's bookstore established 42 years ago by her mother. She loves talking online to "NY152" about the city, literature, and life. However, when they finally meet, still not aware of their online identities, Fox turns out to be Kelly's worst nightmare — he's the owner of a nearby super bookstore that threatens to put her out of business.

The zippy screenplay by Nora and Delia Ephron contains a pop pastiche of contemporary culture with clever takes on The Godfather, Starbucks coffee choices, echinacea as a cold remedy, upscale grocery stores, journalism, the media, and the demise of independent businesses in the face of large chains. Director Nora Ephron makes the most of the New York setting and draws out relaxed comic performances from the two leads, who worked so well together in Sleepless in Seattle. This slick and entertaining film scores some salient points about the mixed attractions of online dating and the perils of modern relationships that are often derailed by the age-old bugaboos of truth and power.