P.S. I Love You (C or 2/4 stars)
'P.S. I Love You' is a romantic dramedy directed by Richard LaGravenese (Freedom Writers). A young widow, Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank), is happy to discover that her late husband, Gerry (Gerard Butler, of 300), has left her 10 letters. Over the course of 1 year, she'll sporadically receive these letters in the mail. Knowing his wife, he knows she'll have an awfully hard time getting over him (for good). These letters are instructions; intended to help ease her pain & start a new life without him. This is a lengthy movie, and an exasperating one, as well. Comprised of brilliant scenes, as well as atrocious ones ... it couldn't find a center.
The opening scene is one of the atrocious ones (not a great start). Holly & Gerry are having a very lengthy, exhausting domestic dispute. Though the dispute ends happily, I already had a foul taste in my mouth. Holly is beautiful & smart, but is a worry wart. Gerry (an impish Irishman) is handsome, funny, & a free spirit. You can see where they lock horns. But there are more than enough touching scenes which shows their attraction, and why they love each other so much. After Gerry dies of a brain tumor, Holly goes into seclusion. Because Gerry knows her so well, he planned the aforementioned letters. His goal was to get her out of the house, grieve him properly, meet new people, get a new job (one that she would love), take a trip, do something crazy; basically, he wanted her to find herself.
Holly's mom (Kathy Bates) and her best friends Denise & Sharon (Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon), worry that these 'letters' are tying her down to the past ... that they're actually making things worse. The letters would arrive to Holly in surprising ways, & always ended with him writing, P.S. I Love You. By the end of the film, though, you realize that in small measures, the letters actually 'were' pointing her in the right direction. She seals some deals & makes new friends. It took a long time, but she was getting more & more ready to let go. Thanks to Gerry's encouraging words, Holly embarked on an invigorating, touching journey. However, some of these situations along her journey to self-discovery were awkward and/or unfunny. And some were chock-full of silly coincidence.
I typically enjoy Swank, but she's not great at playing 'cute'. She cries pretty well. But I couldn't connect deeply with her because either her delivery of (intended) cute lines was off, or her scenes were too cloying, sentimental, or poorly executed. This is the ultimate chick flick. I appreciate chick flicks (when done extremely well), but this one misses the mark too often. Just when my eyes would well up, the next scene had them rolling. These reactions came on one after the other. The other necessary component of the film that was lacking was chemistry btwn. Holly & her friends ... none of it.
Here's what I liked in 'P.S. I Love You': Holly's trip to Ireland provided some beautiful screen photography. Gerard Butler (popping up throughout the film in insightful flashbacks) is engaging as Gerry. Harry Connick Jr. surprised me; I thought I'd loathe him. He actually brought humanity to his role when trying to woo Holly. And Kathy Bates is excellent as Holly's worrisome, but sage mother. Every scene with either her or Gerry in it felt real. But so much of the rest of the film felt forced, farced, & floundered. The premise of the movie is quite nice, but it's hard to connect with several of the characters. Some scenes felt emotionally honest, some were completely amateurish. The sappy melodrama was a bit too much, even for me. Still, this is the kind of film that will eventually pop up quite often on TNT or TBS or something similar. I honestly enjoyed the intelligent, charming portions of 'P.S. I Love You', they just came & went far too frequently.
The opening scene is one of the atrocious ones (not a great start). Holly & Gerry are having a very lengthy, exhausting domestic dispute. Though the dispute ends happily, I already had a foul taste in my mouth. Holly is beautiful & smart, but is a worry wart. Gerry (an impish Irishman) is handsome, funny, & a free spirit. You can see where they lock horns. But there are more than enough touching scenes which shows their attraction, and why they love each other so much. After Gerry dies of a brain tumor, Holly goes into seclusion. Because Gerry knows her so well, he planned the aforementioned letters. His goal was to get her out of the house, grieve him properly, meet new people, get a new job (one that she would love), take a trip, do something crazy; basically, he wanted her to find herself.
Holly's mom (Kathy Bates) and her best friends Denise & Sharon (Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon), worry that these 'letters' are tying her down to the past ... that they're actually making things worse. The letters would arrive to Holly in surprising ways, & always ended with him writing, P.S. I Love You. By the end of the film, though, you realize that in small measures, the letters actually 'were' pointing her in the right direction. She seals some deals & makes new friends. It took a long time, but she was getting more & more ready to let go. Thanks to Gerry's encouraging words, Holly embarked on an invigorating, touching journey. However, some of these situations along her journey to self-discovery were awkward and/or unfunny. And some were chock-full of silly coincidence.
I typically enjoy Swank, but she's not great at playing 'cute'. She cries pretty well. But I couldn't connect deeply with her because either her delivery of (intended) cute lines was off, or her scenes were too cloying, sentimental, or poorly executed. This is the ultimate chick flick. I appreciate chick flicks (when done extremely well), but this one misses the mark too often. Just when my eyes would well up, the next scene had them rolling. These reactions came on one after the other. The other necessary component of the film that was lacking was chemistry btwn. Holly & her friends ... none of it.
Here's what I liked in 'P.S. I Love You': Holly's trip to Ireland provided some beautiful screen photography. Gerard Butler (popping up throughout the film in insightful flashbacks) is engaging as Gerry. Harry Connick Jr. surprised me; I thought I'd loathe him. He actually brought humanity to his role when trying to woo Holly. And Kathy Bates is excellent as Holly's worrisome, but sage mother. Every scene with either her or Gerry in it felt real. But so much of the rest of the film felt forced, farced, & floundered. The premise of the movie is quite nice, but it's hard to connect with several of the characters. Some scenes felt emotionally honest, some were completely amateurish. The sappy melodrama was a bit too much, even for me. Still, this is the kind of film that will eventually pop up quite often on TNT or TBS or something similar. I honestly enjoyed the intelligent, charming portions of 'P.S. I Love You', they just came & went far too frequently.