Harry: You realize, of course, that we can never be friends.
Sally: Why not?
Harry: What I'm saying is — and this is not a come-on in any
way, shape or form — is that men and women 'cant be friends because the
sex part always gets in the way.
Sally: That's not true. I have a number of men friends and there is no sex involved.
Harry: No you don't.
Sally: Yes I do.
Harry: No you don't.
Sally: Yes I do.
Harry: You only think you do.
Sally: You say I'm having sex with these men without my knowledge?
Harry: No, what I'm saying is they all want to have sex with you.
Sally: They do not.
Harry: Do too.
Sally: They do not.
Harry: Do too.
Sally: How do you know?
Harry: Because no man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.
Sally: So you're saying that a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive?
Harry: No, you pretty much want to nail 'em too.
Sally: What if they don't want to have sex with you?
Harry: Doesn't matter because the sex thing is already out
there so the friendship is ultimately doomed and that is the end of the
story.
Sally: Well, I guess we're not going to be friends then.
Harry: Guess not.
Sally: That's too bad. You were the only person that I knew in New York.
.........
Harry: Would you like to have dinner? ...Just friends.
Sally: I thought you didn't believe men and women could be friends.
Harry: When did I say that?
Sally: On the ride to New York.
Harry: No, no, no, no, I never said that... Yes, that's
right, they can't be friends...unless both of them are involved with
other people. Then they can. This is an amendment to the earlier rule.
If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible
involvement is lifted. That doesn't work either. Because what happens
then is the person you're involved with can't understand why you need to
be friends with the person you're just friends with, like it means
something is missing from the relationship and wanted to go outside to
get it. Then when you say, 'No, no, no, no, it's not true, nothing is
missing from the relationship,' the person you're involved with then
accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just
friends with, which you probably are - I mean, come on, who the hell are
we kidding, let's face it - which brings us back to the earlier rule
before the amendment, which is men and women can't be friends. So where
does it leave us?