P.S. I Love You Director: Richard LaGravanese Cast: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow Category: IIB Duration: 126 minutes This is an unabashed love story that is meant to tug on the heart strings – and will for most audiences who like to surrender to love stories. The film opens with an argument between Holly (Hilary Swank) and her husband, Gerry (Gerard Butler, late of Phantom of the Opera and 300 where he was Leonidas with a Scots accent). They bicker, reconcile, show that this could be a vigorous happy marriage and then the credits come on. Then, after a few minutes, we are told that Gerry has died of a tumour. No, this is not a ghost story, but Gerry and his spirit do linger long in Holly’s life and grief. Her tough mother (Kathy Bates) and her close friends (Gina Gershon and a comic Lisa Kudrow) try to shake her out of her reclusiveness and provide a birthday cake – and a letter from Gerry. He has left a series of letters (all with PS I love you) and the film shows how Holly follows their lead and is able, not to bring him back to life, but allow herself to be brought back to life by his loving letters. Since Gerry was Irish, this involves a trip to Ireland with her friends and the chance to meet his family – and an old musical friend (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Hilary Swank, we know, is quite a strong screen personality so Holly comes across forcefully even in her grief. Harry Connick Jr has a good role as a barman who suffers from a syndrome that leads him to blurt out the blunt truth of what he is really thinking. And he provides a shoulder for Holly to cry on. This is a mixture of laughter and tears – and there is a nice piece of information at the end which gives some deeper meaning to what has happened to Holly. |
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