Movie #295 ........................."P.S. I Love You"

Movie #295 "P.S. I Love You" is just okay. It's not really a romantic comedy, though it forces some comedy onto the viewer, and it seems to work really hard at that ---- it's really a film about grief, which is a tough subject for me, my biggest fear. I don't like to talk about it, I don't like to read books about it, and I don't like to see films about it ---- yet, after 9/11, a majority of films are on this subject. But this one is about a woman losing the love of her life ---- the nail right on the head for me. And she gets letters from him boosting her morale, getting her to try things she hasn't tried before, getting her through the grief. What a lovely idea and one I would buy because I have always thought we have this tie to the other world (my favorite moment in plays is when the baker's wife comes back from the dead to inspire the baker to take care of his baby, and when Dot in "Sunday in the Park with George" comes back to tell her love George Seurat to "Move On"). Now, it doesn't matter that this guy who never has a plan figures out this elaborate plan to speak to her from the dead --- or does it? Kind of goofy script ---- and where are all these friends and family when she stays locked up in her house for 3 weeks without showering and doing the dishes? There are some real moments, though. Mostly, they are between the mother (Kathy Bates) and the daughter/widow (Hillary Swank) ---- have I said I don't like Gerard Butler earlier in my movieblog? Well, let it be said. He way overacts with this macho persona that is annoying ---- his scenes didn't work for me at all --- could be a personal prejudice, but he just works too hard at being charming to me. He has ruined several movies for me so far, and I don't plan on him doing that in the future. I like Swank and Bates so much, that I disregarded that he was in it and that the subject matter was a husband's death, and Itried with this. It has way too many cliches and it works way too hard to charm the viewer, so it's a bit phoney. But maybe you'll like it. The one true moment in here is when she discovers that she really IS alone, but then as Sondheim so clearly tells us (in "Into the Woods" again) "No One is Alone," and I like to keep that thought. The ending tries to tell us the same thing, but not nearly as well.





Average rating: 3.848
I give it 3.5 stars
P.S. I Love You
(2007) PG-13
When she loses her beloved husband Gerry (Gerard Butler) to a brain tumor, grieving widow Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) is surprised to learn that he left a series of letters behind to help her cope with the pain of being without him. As the months drag on, Holly finds messages from Gerry that encourage her to go on living. But will the letters mire her deeper into the past, or will they give her the strength she needs to face the future?