You've Got Mail is a remake of the story first offered in the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner, starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan. Nora Ephron brings the plot into the computer age and sets the action in Manhattan, instead of Budapest. And her leading actors are Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Here's the basic story. Two people begin an anonymous email correspondence, and they grow to like each other very much. Then they make arrangements to meet in person. It turns out that they already know each other in real life -- and here, they're sworn enemies. The man of the couple realizes the connection first and keeps it a secret from the woman. She eventually admits that she's been exchanging emails with a wonderful man, not knowing that she's talking to the very man she has been writing to. Eventually the man reveals his identity to her, but only after he has a little fun and digs a little deeper to find out how she really feels. Surprise! Do they fall in love for good? You decide.

Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) owns a children's bookstore called The Shop Around the Corner. Her mother Cecelia started it years ago, and it's grown into a popular neighborhood destination. Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) is part of the family conglomerate that owns big-box store Fox (& Sons) Books. The company is building a new outlet near Kathleen's Shop, threatening her business. At the same time, Kathleen and Joe have been quietly corresponding with each other by email, in anonymity, without knowing each other and without ever meeting in person. At the beginning, both are in live-in relationships with other people. The two first meet when Joe brings his two young relatives into the Shop. Their paths cross again because of their connections with books and writing. And soon enough, it's the Big Bad Box Store vs. the Feisty Local Independent. Who will win? Or can both businesses survive? And what will happen in the meantime to Kathleen and Joe?

These were the days in the bookstore biz when Amazon was only a few years old and had yet to gain any foothold. (Do you remember them? We still had Waldenbooks and Borders, too.) America Online was a major player in email accounting. And the goal of meeting potential mates on the internet was still an uncommon and somewhat frowned-upon practice. The film is only 20 years old (as I write this review), and yet so much has changed, in both fields. The timing was right to make this movie, this way, in 1998.

Let's go back further and compare You've Got Mail with its predecessor, The Shop Around the Corner. I find it helpful to make lists.

Here are some similarities between the two movies:

• Both feature two great leading actors of their day.
• Both are set in retail environments.
• The Budapest shop and Kathleen's Shop even have similar kinds of shelving and displays.
• The anonymous correspondence is a foundation of the plot.
• The male lead is the second-in-command at his company.
• The male lead has a close friend to confide in, about the letters. This person becomes a sort of partner in crime. For Joe Fox, it's Kevin Jackson (David Chappelle).
• The first arranged meeting in the cafe goes exactly the same way.
• There is a sick-bed scene, though the purposes and outcomes of each one is slightly different.
• One character loses his/her job, at least temporarily.
• What Clara Novak describes as being "psychologically mixed-up," Kathleen Kelly cites as being "confusing."
• The seasons change over the course of about six months: from summer to winter, or from fall to spring.

Differences from the first movie to the second:

• The first one appears in black and white, and the second one is in color. Although this factor is a technological one for the times, it tends to lend a certain bleakness to the first one and a cheerier disposition to the second.
• The setting changes from Budapest to Manhattan.
• The characters have more time to interact (100 minutes vs. 120 minutes). We get to hear more of their correspondence, too.
• The plot has more richness. We see more in the main characters' personal lives, away from the stores.
• The characters now work for competitors, and not for the same company.
• The newer one has more variety in the songs chosen for the soundtrack.

Watch and listen for:

• The amusing banter between Kathleen and Joe, both in their emails and in person.
• Joe's assessment of why people buy coffee at Starbucks.
• Kathleen's description of the relationship between our lives and what we read in books.
• Kathleen's insight on the impact that books make on us as young readers.

Book and cultural references surface here regularly, as well they should. There's The Godfather; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; The New York newspaper, the Observer; Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery; Ballet Shoes, Skating Shoes, Theatre Shoes and Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfeild; the song "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell. During storytime, Kathleen reads a passage of "The Great Mouse Plot," from Roald Dahl's memoir, Boy: Tales of Childhood. Then she shows Annabelle the books in the Betsy-Tacy series written by Maud Hart Lovelace. And by the way, independent bookstores are still thriving today. The big box stores? Not so much. Maybe Kathleen should have decided differently.

The most fun and surprising supporting character in the story is Birdie Conrad (Jean Stapleton), who works as Kathleen's clerk and bookkeeper. She's got great lines. And even though she worked for Cecilia, and Kathleen has known her all her life, Birdie still manages to have an aura of mystique around her. She's someone you would like to spend more time with. But alas! This is not her story.

Yes, You've Got Mail is a romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, so you're almost sure to predict where the plot will lead. It's still a lot of fun to watch. It remains one of my favorites, and I still get teary-eyed at the end. Go back and watch The Shop Around the Corner someday, to see where this story began. Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan are fun to watch, too.