Synopsis:

Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) is beautiful, intelligent and married to the love of her life, Gerry (Gerard Butler).  A passionate, funny, and kind Irishman, Gerry's sudden death from an illness sucks the will to live from Holly.  In his final days Gerry made a plan for Holly to help her grieve and ultimately move on with her life.  A series of letters begin to arrive that guide Holly through her difficult struggle.  In the weeks and months that follow, letters from Gerry continue to arrive in surprising ways, each sending Holly further along the road to recovery.  P.S. I Love You follows Holly as she takes a voyage of self discovery and recognition that a love so intense can cause so much pain but ultimately generate a breath of new life into her world.

The Freak's Rating: C : Jen & I sit down to watch a movie about once a week.  I chose this one based upon the genre and a few decent reviews I heard from friends and family.  If you believe that tears equal a good movie, then you'll love this one.  The sadness of the film is overwhelming at times.  My wife & I have a very playful nature when we're alone, as I like to think many couples do.  Sometimes I'll just randomly dance in the house and as weird as that might sound to someone else, it makes Jen smile and therefore lights up my world.  The goofiness that a couple can have together behind closed doors is captured quite well in the opening minutes film, though it drags on a little long.  When Gerry's death happens, it is quick and unexpected, no doubt an intentional interjection from the editor and director.  Throughout the film, the morbid tone was ominous, choking me up at points and leaving Jen in need of tissues for the bulk of the film.  The sadness of losing a mate is something I hope I never have to go through.  Any married male or female can sympathize with Holly's sadness and that commonality we all share is preyed upon by the filmmakers for the full length of the film.  Afterwards I hugged my wife, but I believe it was influenced by the emotion invoked by the film, not the quality of the film itself.  However, I will give the film credit for making me feel those emotions.  It did a good job of doing so.

Hilary Swank is a wonderful actress, but is strangely cast for this role.  Sometimes her scenes are quite well written, allowing her to put on a great performance.  More often though, dialogue is so poorly written that believability disappears as even an actress of Swank's caliber can't rescue the scene.  Gerard Butler makes a leap from his performance in 300 to play Gerry, but does a good job, quickly bonding you to the character and making you care that he's gone.  The real gems of the film are Lisa Kudrow and Harry Connick Jr..  Without their scenes of perfect comic relief, the entire audience of the film might commit mass suicide over the depressing tone.  Kathy Bates is solid as always in her typical supporting role, but nothing overly special.

P.S. I Love You has a romantic storyline and I wanted to like it, but it suffers from mediocre screenplay adaptation and poor editing and direction.  Some scenes in the film are done quite well, but some are flat out awful.  There is a scene with Connick Jr and Swank that is ridiculous.  With some tighter editing and rewrites, this could have been a winner.  Had it wrapped up nicer I may have recommended it.  The attempt to pull at your heartstrings is very effective, but if you're looking for anything but a good cry, skip this one.

Jen's Rating: B- : SPOILER ALERT! This movie was cute however I could not stop crying until the last 15 minutes!  I know if my husband passed, especially suddenly, I would act just like her.  It's a good depiction of the grieving process and the letter concept is adorable!  There were a few parts that were unnecessary in the movie like when she slept with William, the random scene where Jerry first met Holly and the final scene with Daniel.  Hilary Swank does a great job and you really understand what her character is going through.  Due to all the crying and morbid thoughts this brings on, I don't think I'll watch it again for a while but on the other hand it really makes you appreciate and cherish what you have.

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