Movie Review: P.S. I Love You

Posted on 30 January 2008 by Ashleigh Holmes

I first saw the trailer for P.S. I Love You in October. I could barely contain my glee.  A movie with Gerard Butler AND Harry Connick, Jr. AND Jeffrey Dean Morgan – oh my!  And as if that weren't enough, part of it's set in Ireland?!  Be still, my heart.

I'd read the book, so I knew what to expect.  Young woman loses her husband at a tragically young age, and the story follows her coping and recovery from the loss.  What I didn't expect was to cry during most of the film.  I admit that I'm a crier, and I always shed a few tears during almost every movie, but this one was heart-wrenching – translated: bring some tissues with you, or at least stock up on napkins at the concession stand.  By the end of the movie, everyone in the theater was sniffling.

I had my misgivings about Hilary Swank playing the widow, Holly.  I know she's a great actress, but she doesn't exactly scream grieving widow in a sappy, romantic movie.  She screams more grieving widow in an Oscar-nominated mega-tragedy.  But I was more than pleasantly surprised.  I bought her grief at every step of the way, and I recognized more than a few of her reactions, having somewhat recently lost a loved one myself.

Lisa Kudrow and Gina Gershon play Holly's loyal friends, and Kudrow has her fair share of witty comments. Kathy Bates is spectacular, as always, as Holly's rough-around-the-edges mom.  Gerard Butler, as Gerry the dead husband, is every bit the dashing, witty, charming Irishman that you would expect him to be, except that Butler's actually Scottish.  Harry Connick, Jr. plays Daniel, an awkward but loveable bartender at Bates' pub, who's completely enamored with Holly.  And last but certainly not least, Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Billy Gallagher, an Irishman that Holly meets at a pub during her trip to Ireland that Gerry arranged for her before he died.

The film does a great job of juxtaposing the incredibly debilitating sadness of losing a loved one with the sobering realization that, for those that are left behind, life goes on whether you want it to or not.  You may be wallowing in an ever-deepening pool of sadness and depression, but there are still babies being born and couples getting married and divorced, and the world keeps turning no matter how hard you wish it would stop, because then, maybe, just maybe, the pain would stop too.  Even though there's not a happy ending in the traditional sense (not everything gets wrapped up in a neat little bow), I still left the theater believing that true love really does last a lifetime, and that true friends are always there for you.  And really, that's all I expect from a film like this.

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