P.S. I Love You Review

The Verdict:  PS I Love You turned out to not be the light romantic comedy my friend and I were hoping it would be.  We both cried too much and left feeling drained instead of happy.

Just the Facts:  This movie didn't really appeal to me all that much but my friend had her heart set on it.  Her 2-year old son died 2 months ago and I thought a movie about death and loss would not be such a good idea but she insisted so we went. 

PS I Love You is about  Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) and her husband Gerry (Gerard Butler).  At times they fight like crazy but are still madly in love after 10 years and always manage to work things out.  The problem is that Holly is conservative and a little uptight and Gerry is more fun loving and spontaneous and not as worried about the future. 

Near the beginning of the movie Gerry dies unexpectedly.  It turns out that he had a brain tumor and during the months when he was sick and dying he wrote letters to Holly with instructions intended to help her live life more fully, have more, fun, and help with getting over his death.  She receives these letters periodically in the mail and other various places for about a year after his death. 

Gerry asks her to do various activities and travel a little which always involves taking her friends Denise (Lisa Kudrow) and Sharon (Gina Gershon) along for the ride.  What results is that Holly has a hard time getting over Gerry as every activity or event brings back memories of him in the form of flashbacks for the audience to see glimpses of their past together, how they met, etc.

PS I Love You was a good movie.  I liked the idea of the husband having thought ahead and doing what he could to help his beloved move on with this new chapter of her life.  What I did not expect is that the movie would be so touching and painful to watch with my friend who also just experienced extreme loss. 

I guess there's a little part of me that has seen too many Cinderella stories in my life and I wanted the movie to be light and happy after the initial loss.  Some shallow part of my brain wanted Holly to quickly get over Gerry, start having fun, find a new man and live happily ever after.  But instead it caused me to feel real empathy and pain for her and what she went through.  Especially when I had my best friend sitting next to me crying through the entire movie.  There were some very funny moments in the movie that made me laugh so hard I snorted, but it was generally very sad.

The story and the acting were quite good.  I felt that the movie was well casted and that Hilary Swank did a really nice job.  She seemed very real and believable to me and I liked her character.  I also liked her friend Denise who provided much of the comic relief in PS I Love You.  Harry Connick, Jr. also played a part in the movie and although his character was odd and I didn't like him much, he also added to the small bits of comedy in the story.



Closing Argument: PS I Love You was a good movie but rather heavy and depressing.  It was not the right movie at the right time for my friend and I but it was really pretty good.