P.S. I Love You shouldn't be a good movie. The plot is ludicrous, the characters are borderline unlikable, and, well, let's just stick with it shouldn't be a good movie. Despite this, I found myself enjoying it. Somehow I found myself identifying with the characters, not that I have ever been involved in anything even close to what these characters go through.
The movie sidesteps real life and resides in an alternate reality running parallel to our own. This is a world where romance extends beyond the barrier of death. P.S. I Love You is a story of dealing with loss and working through grief. Yes, it is hopelessly sentimental and an unapologetic tearjerker, but it struck a chord inside me and won me over despite it all.
Holly (Hillary Swank) and Gerry (Gerard Butler) are a young married couple of modest means. They are deeply in love, but like all married couples they bicker and argue with quite ferocious intensity, but through it all they have their love. Their deep love brought them together in fairy tale fashion, flaming an ember of passion into what was supposed to be a lifetime of love. Tragedy strikes and Gerry's life is taken by a brain tumor, leaving Holly alone for the first time since she was a teenager. This is not the way life is supposed to go; people are not just supposed to die like that, people are not meant to be left alone suddenly.
Holly has no idea how she is supposed to go on with her life. For the prior decade she had been with the love of her life; whenever she needed him, he was there for her. Sure, they fought and they argued, but eventually they would come back together. Not now. Now she had no one to argue with, no one to fight with, no one to make up with. Her love is not there to love her unconditionally, no matter how upset she may get.
Article comments
1 - Cait
Enjoyed reading your critique about PSILY, Chris Beaumont - in fact, when I first saw your name, I thought you were a female! Many of the reviews I've read since this movie put in an appearance have been blatantly disparaging and sarcastically dismissive - and unfortunately, it seemed to me that the preponderance of those penning such commentary were male. Thus, it was refreshing to read such an objective assessment from you as to the merits as well as the shortcomings of this film. I've seen it twice now and have enjoyed both viewings equally. However, I do take exception that the 'plot was ludicrous' and that the movie was 'hopelessly sentimental'. Oh, and by the by, what's wrong with being an 'unapologetic tearjerker'? (I think we can all use a good tearjerker every now and again to remind us of those core values in life that ultimately make it worth living...)
2 - Katlin Dunn
I'm a huge Gerard Butler fan and even though I liked the film (mainly because of him)I have to agree it could have used better editing and much more of Jeffrey Dean Morgan.