With two Oscars under her belt, leading lady Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don’t Cry) seems like a pretty safe bet at the box office – or in this case for a DVD purchase.  As far as I was concerned, PS I Love You sounded like a fairly safe bet.  Swank plays Holly Kennedy, a woman who loses the love of her life, Gerry (Gerard Butler) to a terminal illness and she is unable to easily cope with the loss.  Before he died, Gerry wrote her a series of letters to help teach her the lessons he knew she’d most need help with in dealing with the loss and learning how to stand on her own two feet and move on.  The first message arrives on Holly’s 30th birthday in the form of a cake and, to her utter shock, a tape recording from Gerry, who proceeds to order her to get out and “celebrate herself.”

While the film is not a total loss, the biggest issue I had with the film is that it didn’t seem to entirely commit Swank’s character (or the storyline) to a specific enough mold for the audience to sink it’s teeth into.  At times it would start to ease into the feel of a romantic comedy, then suddenly shift gears back to the angst of loss.  Perhaps the notion was that grief is a very confusing emotion, but it shouldn’t be so confusing to the audience that we’re not sure which ride we’re on.  I personally wish they would have just picked one and gone all or nothing.  Make it a romantic comedy about moving on and learning how to let go – or make it a heart tugging drama about the pain of loss, coping and learning. 

That being said, the film wasn’t a total loss.  Lisa Kudrow does a great job as the best friend with some of the best lines in the movie.  Butler held his own, though the overabundance of ‘irish charm’ gets a little too gooey in spots.  Overall the acting was fine enough to keep me watching, the direction of the story seemed to cause the bumps. 

As long as you don’t have your heart set on some solid meat to sink your teeth in, and are willing to take it for what it’s worth, then you might be in like with this movie.   If nothing else, it does remind us all about remembering not to take the people in our life for granted.  That’s never a bad thing to have a nudge about from time to time. Unfortunately I think it missed the mark in terms of having you fall in love with it.   It’s fairly predictable and nothing special, but may make for a good enough viewing on a rainy day.