Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks: Together Again?

Back in the '90s, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were romantic comedy royalty: Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail. But since then, it seems the famous fiction couple has disintegrated. Tom Hanks hasn't a romantic comedy since Larry Crowne, and Ryan seems to have nearly disappeared from the acting world. But now, it seems like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks might get back together after all.

Hanks might appear in the new movie that Ryan is directing, Ithaca. The movie is an adaptation of William Saroyan's 1943 novel The Human Comedy, about a high school boy working as a telegram delivery boy and living with his widowed mother in the fictional town of Ithaca, California while his brother fights overseas in World War II. Hanks is rumored to take a small role as the boy's father.

Sure, it's no romantic comedy and they won't be acting together, but Hanks and Ryan have undeniable chemistry and a history of working well together. But things aren't the same as back when Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were having a cinematic makeout session to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." So how much have things changed since then?

Tom Hanks

In the '90s: Tom Hanks was in every movie. Well, okay, not every movie, but the man averaged about two movies a year in some of the biggest blockbusters of the '90s: Apollo 13, Toy Story, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile. This is also the decade where Hanks won both of his Academy Awards, for Philidelphia and Forrest Gump. Hanks was the '90s golden boy.

Today: No one would deny that Tom Hanks is still successful, but he hasn't been able to find the kind of success he had 20 years ago. The kind of sweeping, sappy dramas that gave Hanks so much success in the '90s aren't really in vogue anymore, so Oscar bait looking movies like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close get mixed reviews.

Meg Ryan

In the '90s: Meg Ryan was America's Sweetheart. There was no contest, no campaign, but in the '90s it seemed like every magazine had declared it so. And after appearing as the love interest in classic romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle, it was hard for America not to fall in love with her.

Today: Now, Meg Ryan is a little harder to find. She was nominated for a Raspberry for her role in The Women, and she hasn't done a movie since Serious Moonlight in 2009. Since then, it seems she's been living a quiet life, and is now making her directorial debut with Ithaca.

So if anyone needs a '90s nostalgia throwback, it's these two. Here's hoping that working together again will bring back some magic to their careers.