We’ll have what she’s having

As word of director Rob Reiner’s death spread Sunday night, memorials spilled forth; the man’s work touched so many people.

Perhaps no filmmaker has ever given us such an unbroken string of broadly appealing, generation-defining films — from thrillers and coming-of-age tales to rom-coms and mockumentaries — or provided us with so many quotable lines.

Below, Free Press staff recall some of their favourite Reiner productions.

All in the Family, 1971-79

Before his string of hits as a director, Rob Reiner shone on the small screen as Michael Stivic — but most of us knew him as Meathead.

Life under his inlaws’ roof with his wife Gloria was never easy for Meathead, a long-haired, handlebar-moustached liberal/hippy who often irked his father-in-law Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor).

The pair constantly sparred, tangling over everything from religion or feminism to where to sit (NOT in Archie’s prized armchair) and what order to put on socks and shoes.

All in the Family was already in reruns when I started watching (and loving) it as a kid in the mid-’80s.

Beyond the humour and the compelling storylines, I think what drew me to the show was that, both visually and ideologically, Meathead reminded me of my dad, and Archie of his father-in-law, my Grandad. They rarely saw eye to eye and, like Meathead and Archie, I like to think they’re still trading barbs wherever they are.

— Ben Sigurdson

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

The Stonehenge to which all other mockumentaries should be measured — the real one, not, uh, the one from the movie — Reiner’s laugh-a-minute comedy about an aging English heavy metal band (played by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer) going out on a last-ditch American tour in support of their latest, Smell the Glove, is one of the funniest (and most quotable) entries in the genre.

This is Reiner’s feature directorial debut, but he was also in the writers’ room with Guest, McKean and Shearer, a veritable murder’s row of comedy.

— Jen Zoratti

The Sure Thing (1985)

This rom-com starring a young John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga is both overlooked and underrated, too often lumped in with horny fare of the era such as One Crazy Summer and Can’t Buy Me Love.

It’s actually a very sweet, old-fashioned take on romance, where a cross-country road trip leads to true love triumphing over the promise of empty sex.

It kicked off Cusack’s career as a motor-mouthed charmer.

— Jill Wilson

Stand by Me (1986)

This sentimental coming-of-age film, based on the novella The Body by Stephen King, is a particular favourite. (It was Reiner’s too; he recently told talk show host Piers Morgan, “I don’t know that it’s the best… But it’s the one that meant the most to me, because it really is an extension of my personality and my sensibility.”)

I was a child when it was released. After seeing it in the theatres twice, I was convinced adolescence would involve leeches, near misses with trains and confrontations with switchblade-wielding teens.

River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, Jerry O’Connell and Corey Feldman star as young friends on a dark adventure in 1959, while Kiefer Sutherland plays an older delinquent.

The final voiceover, by Richard Dreyfuss, still packs a punch for me.

— Adam Treusch

The Princess Bride (1987)

A world in which true love cannot triumph over tyrannical forces? Inconceivable!

Despite middling box office success, The Princess Bride has become a beloved Reiner classic for a reason.

There are fantastical adventures, heartfelt moments, earnest silliness and iconic quotes dispensed by a star-studded cast — Cary Elwes (Westley), Robin Wright (Princess Buttercup), Chris Sarandon (Prince Humperdinck), Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya), Wallace Shawn (Vizzini), André the Giant (Fezzik), and on and on.

With its lush colour grading and flowy costuming, the film, based on a novel of the same name, is also beautiful.

And thanks to the meta story of a grandfather reading to his sick grandson, The Princess Bride fills an important niche: “Hey brand-name virtual assistant, cue up the perfect sick-day comfort watch.”

“As you wish.”

— Eva Wasney

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Can men and women ever truly just be friends? That’s the central question at the heart of this rom-com starring Billy Crystal (Harry) and Meg Ryan (Sally), college friends who reconnect a decade after they debate this very question on a road trip from Chicago to New York.

Everyone talks about the “I’ll have what she’s having” scene but it’s the “when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible” that makes this one a bona fide classic.

— Jen Zoratti

Seinfeld (1989)

Without Rob Reiner, the show about nothing would never have been.

Castle Rock Entertainment, Reiner’s production company, provided establishment muscle for the groundbreaking NBC sitcom starring standup comic Jerry Seinfeld, which famously struggled to attain solid ratings during its early seasons.

Along with his Castle Rock co-founders, Reiner was instrumental in convincing NBC brass to keep Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer on the air for nine seasons.

— Ben Waldman

Misery (1990)

Reiner’s second Stephen King adaptation, starring James Caan and Kathy Bates, remains the only movie based on one of the author’s works to win an Academy Award.

A departure from his comedic, fantastical and romantic films, this thriller made Bates — who won the Oscar for best actress — a star.

Remembered for one particularly shocking scene, her portrayal set the standard for obsessed stalker characters, later providing inspiration for Jessica Gunning’s performance in the 2024 Netflix miniseries Baby Reindeer.

— Adam Treusch

A Few Good Men (1992)

Is this Rob Reiner’s most iconic movie? Despite the famous Jack Nicholson “You can’t handle the truth” line, it is not.

And yet, to me, it is endlessly rewatchable and oddly comforting, despite its uncomfortable subject matter, about U.S marines blindly following a code of conduct.

It’s got Tom Cruise at the height of his cocky charisma as a navy lawyer with “a Harvard mouth,” a handful of handsome Hollywood up-and-comers and the late, great character actor J.T. Walsh as a lieutenant-colonel who discovers his conscience.

— Jill Wilson

North (1994)

Elijah Wood stars as North, a kid who divorces his business-minded parents and goes on a global search for funner, nicer ones.

A film that Roger Ebert famously said he “hated hated hated hated hated,” North epitomizes almost everything obnoxious with the decade’s children movies: cultural stereotypes, adults as mere punchlines, etc.

But for ’90s kids, its premise also offered a ripe, memorable fantasy, and a primitive introduction to Reiner’s brand of wit and sentiment.

— Conrad Sweatman

The American President (1995)

It’s a movie that inspired The West Wing, not only in its attempt to humanize people placed in impossible situations, but also paving the way for TWW’s walk-and-talk videographic style.

Michael Douglas plays widowed U.S. President Andrew Shepherd, who begins dating influential lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade, played by Annette Bening.

It largely avoids that ethical dilemma and instead becomes a story about a president who learns to put humanity ahead of political ambition.

— Kelly Taylor