50 free When Harry Met Sally trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This When Harry Met Sally trivia quiz covers the 1989 film from the drive out of Chicago to the New Year's Eve run across Manhattan. The easy questions are the ones every fan knows: the deli, the line, who directed and who wrote it. Then it goes deeper into how the film was made: the lunch at the Russian Tea Room where it started, the actors who turned down Harry, the working title, the sad ending Rob Reiner planned before he fell in love, and who actually came up with 'I'll have what she's having'. There are questions on the cast (including the President's son playing Sally's ex), Harry Connick Jr.'s soundtrack, the box office, the awards and the film's afterlife, from the London stage version to the 2025 Super Bowl commercial. Every answer has been checked against the film's Wikipedia page and those of its makers, and each explanation adds one detail worth remembering.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed When Harry Met Sally...?
Rob Reiner
Reiner had just made Stand by Me and The Princess Bride; Ephron wrote the script but did not direct until This Is My Life in 1992.
Q 02Who wrote the screenplay for When Harry Met Sally...?
Nora Ephron
She based Harry on interviews with Reiner and producer Andrew Scheinman, and Sally on herself and her friends.
Q 03In which year was When Harry Met Sally... released?
1989
It opened against Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which had Billy Crystal worried it would flop.
Q 04What are the full names of the title characters?
Harry Burns and Sally Albright
They meet as fresh graduates of the University of Chicago in 1977.
Q 05Harry and Sally first meet sharing a drive from Chicago to which city?
New York
Sally is heading to journalism school; Harry is dating her friend Amanda, which is how they end up in the same car.
Q 06What is the central question the film asks?
Can men and women ever just be friends?
Harry's answer on the first drive is no, because 'the sex part gets in the way'; Meg Ryan's real-life answer was yes.
Q 07At which real New York deli does Sally fake an orgasm?
Katz's Delicatessen
The deli still hangs a sign over the table reading 'Where Harry met Sally... hope you have what she had!'
Q 08Who delivers the line 'I'll have what she's having' in the deli scene?
Rob Reiner's mother
Estelle Reiner was 94 when she died in 2008, and the New York Times credited her with one of the funniest lines in movie history.
Q 09Who came up with the punchline 'I'll have what she's having'?
Billy Crystal
Ephron suggested the topic of faking orgasms, Ryan suggested actually doing one in a restaurant, and Crystal supplied the button.
Q 10Which actress suggested Sally should actually fake an orgasm on screen, not just discuss it?
Meg Ryan
She then demonstrated it for hours of takes; Reiner noticed at a test screening that the women laughed and the men sat silent.
Q 11Where does 'I'll have what she's having' rank on AFI's list of the 100 greatest movie quotes?
33rd
The film also placed 23rd on AFI's list of the funniest American films.
Q 12Who plays Marie, Sally's best friend?
Carrie Fisher
Marie keeps a Rolodex of eligible men and ends up marrying Harry's best friend Jess after the disastrous double date.
Q 13Who plays Jess, Harry's best friend?
Bruno Kirby
Kirby reunited with Crystal two years later in City Slickers.
Q 14The actor who plays Sally's ex-boyfriend Joe is the son of which US President?
Q 21What was the screenwriter's original working title for the film?
How They Met
Reiner ran a contest during filming: whoever came up with the final title would win a case of champagne.
Q 22How did the script originally end?
Harry and Sally stay friends
Ephron and Reiner both thought that was the true ending; Reiner changed his mind after meeting his second wife Michele Singer.
Q 23Which of these actors turned down the role of Harry Burns?
Tom Hanks
Richard Dreyfuss, Michael Keaton and Albert Brooks also passed; Brooks thought it was too much like a Woody Allen film.
Gerald Ford
Steven Ford is best known for the soap The Young and the Restless; his father gave his high school commencement address as vice president.
Q 15How does Harry describe himself to Sally on their drive?
As a dark side kind of guy
Ephron drew Harry's gloomy pessimism from her interviews with the recently divorced Reiner, who was 'constantly depressed and pessimistic yet funny'.
Q 16Over how many years does the film follow Harry and Sally?
Twelve
They meet in 1977, cross paths in 1982 and 1987, and marry three months after New Year's Eve 1988.
Q 17Where do Harry and Sally run into each other for the third time, in 1987?
A bookstore
Sally has split from Joe and Harry's wife Helen has left him, so they finally decide to try being friends.
Q 18What is Harry watching alone at home on the last night of 1988 before he runs to find Sally?
Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve special
It was Clark's 16th annual broadcast; Harry ends up walking the city and reminiscing before sprinting to the party.
Q 19The interludes with older couples telling how they met were originally based on what?
Real interviews Ephron conducted
Ephron did the interviews when she didn't feel like writing; the material was rewritten and reshot with actors.
Q 20Which real-life friendship supplied much of Harry and Sally's dialogue?
Rob Reiner and Billy Crystal
The split-screen scene of them channel-surfing on the phone was something Crystal and Reiner did every night.
Q 24Which comedian-filmmaker had the director recently divorced when the film's ideas began?
Penny Marshall
Billy Crystal, Reiner's best friend at the time, watched the return to single life up close and later called it unconscious research for Harry.
Q 25At which New York restaurant did the director, producer and writer first meet in 1984?
The Russian Tea Room
Reiner's first pitch was rejected; the second lunch turned into a long conversation about being single, which became the film.
Q 26Which singer performs the standards on the film's soundtrack?
Harry Connick Jr.
Reiner was tipped off by Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer Bobby Colomby and thought Connick sounded like a young Sinatra.
Q 27What did the soundtrack's singer win for his work on it?
His first Grammy Award
The album topped Billboard's traditional jazz chart and went double platinum.
Q 28Which 1924 standard from the film made AFI's list of the 100 greatest movie songs?
It Had to Be You
Isham Jones and Gus Kahn wrote it; it ranked 60th on the AFI list.
Q 29Who arranged the big band and orchestra on the soundtrack?
Marc Shaiman
Shaiman went on to a long partnership with Billy Crystal, including his Oscar-hosting musical numbers, and later wrote Hairspray.
Q 30Roughly how much did the film gross in North America?
$93 million
It cost about $16 million and took another $100 million overseas.