P.S. I Love You Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)December 20th, 2007
P.S. I LOVE YOU
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2007 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
Ugh! P.S. I LOVE YOU is a chick flick in the worst sense of that phrase, as all of the actors run around frantically, emoting like crazy while having zero chemistry with each other and having few believable moments on the screen.
The low quality of this movie should come as no surprise when one learns that it is by writer and director Richard LaGravenese, whose last film was FREEDOM WRITERS, a well-intentioned dog but a dog nonetheless.
Yes, two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank is a very talented actress. But along with her signature roles in high intensity dramas like BOYS DON'T CRY and MILLION DOLLAR BABY, she has also tried other material without much success. Films like THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE, THE CORE, FREEDOM WRITERS and P.S. I LOVE YOU are all prime examples of how casting Swank in the wrong roles is not doing this actress any favors.
In the treacle-laden P.S. I LOVE YOU she plays a woman haunted by a supposedly well-intentioned dead husband who refuses to stay away from her. When we first meet Holly Kennedy (Swank) and her husband Gerry (Gerard Butler), they appear to be auditioning for a sitcom. Bickering like there is no tomorrow, the two of them argue with such pseudo-ferocity that they throw off a subliminal laugh track.
These annoying and would-be funny characters will, of course, regret their fighting when a quick cut later to Gerry's wake finds him dead because of a brain tumor. The beauty of that way to go, at least from Gerry's viewpoint, is that it gives him enough time to leave a long set of instructions for Holly. These sappy love notes from the grave will be delivered by an unknown character. Holly then spends most of the rest of the movie being ordered about like an obedient dog. She is told where to eat, what to wear and where to go on vacation.
This being the movies and Holly looking stunning, she will encounter several potential suitors, all of whom are handsome and available. Of course, she is still attached, even if her loved one is now a corpse. You and I both know that she will, eventually, leave her six-foot-under husband and choose among the living for her permanent relationship.
But until she finally lets the dead stay dead and decides to pick someone among the living, we have to go from one barffable moment to the next.
P.S. I LOVE YOU runs way too long at 2:06. It is rated PG-13 for "sexual references and brief nudity" and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, December 21, 2007. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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