As you know, The Toast takes an extremely high view of When Harry Met Sally, and would even go so far as to call Bruno Kirby the John Cazale of comedy (died too young, appeared in almost exclusively perfect movies).

And yet there is a flaw. A single flaw, but a flaw nonetheless, and one that niggles at me more and more every time that I see it. Consider the following two scenes, both of which are set in a restaurant.

Notice the following similarities: waitresses who come by and take their orders, surrounding patrons, the sounds of people having dinner and talking with their friends. Now compare it with this scene (starts around 29:35, runs until 31:30):

http://youtu.be/N5pci2fE96M?t=29m35s

The restaurant is entirely empty. There are no other diners, no waiters, no ambient noises of forks clinking against plates or of glasses being cleared or of nearby conversation. There is nothing but silence and darkness, and a mysterious bank of yellow flowers that first appear to Sally’s left and then immediately behind her. What deserted restaurant is this? Is there some sort of Brigadoon situation going on? It feels like an empty soundstage — it feels ominous. How did they get there? How will they get out?