Sally Albright Gives Good Face: Ranking Meg Ryan’s Facial Expressions In ‘When Harry Met Sally…’

It’s hard to talk about Meg Ryan and not mention her face. Meg Ryan’s great defining characteristic as an actress was always—and still is—her face. Before her ghastly plastic surgery, she had one of the most beautifully expressive faces ever caught on film. In her prime, she could convey comic unease with a wrinkle and deliver a punchline with just a facial movement.

Nowhere is Meg Ryan’s face on greater elastic display than in the classic romantic comedy,When Harry Met Sally… Ryan plays Sally Albright, a neurotic New York woman whose most endearing quality isn’t her oodles of blonde hair or obsessive compulsive tendencies; it’s her myriad of exquisite facial expressions.

This week, When Harry Met Sally... celebrates its 25th anniversary and we want to rank Sally Albright’s greatest faces from least to most expressive.

20. The glasses are doing most of the work here. So…it’s number 20.

19. Hello darkness, my old friend…

18. “Baby Fish Mouth,” OBVIOUSLY. (Oh, wait…it’s “Baby Talk.”)

17. This look says, “No, I don’t want to sleep with this man.”

16. Half of this is Sally articulating the problem with chocolate sauce being on a coconut cake with her face and the other half is Harry’s face realizing that, yes, the woman he loves will be talking about chocolate sauce on coconut cake for the rest of their lives.

15. We are very amused by how little Sally is amused by this hat.

14. Oh no! Is that a look of love? In the first act!?!?!? TOO SOON!

13. “Oh, Marie…”

12. This is exactly the look on my face when I run into guys I don’t want to talk to.

11. “Because of God.”

10. A single facial expression that encapsulates the phrase, “Happily Ever After.”

9. The most romantic forehead crease in film history.

8. Sally Albright doubts your depth, bro.

7. Who needs a graphic sex scene, when Sally’s post-coital face says it all?

6. Sally should leave the funny voices to Harry. You know?

5. “WHERE’S SUNDAY?”

4. Her frustration is palpable. It’s all in her face.

3. The eternal, “Please stop making out. I have things to do,” face.

2. Look familiar, fellas?

1. “Her name is Kimberly.” We know, Sally. We know.

When Harry Met Sally… is available to rent & buy on Amazon and to buy on iTunes.