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Rating:
For decorated actresses, sometimes it's not enough just to do award-worthy films. Hilary Swank apparently wanted to prove she has a lighter side, hence her involvement in the weepy romantic sort-of-comedy P.S. I Love You. Unfortunately, Swank's knack for the dramatic follows her wherever she goes. Richard LaGravenese's film makes the strange decision to open with her Holly Kennedy entrenched in a knock-down, drag-out argument with her soon-to-be-dead husband (Gerard Butler), which eats up the entire first ten minutes. It's problematic, then, that the next scene is an abrupt shift to his funeral, even though he had no terminal disease whatsoever in the previous one. Films like these rely on the audience romanticizing the central relationship, but whatever was supposedly good about it comes out only in dribs and drabs. Instead, the labored central gimmick takes a stranglehold, as Butler's Gerry posthumously unleashes an unlikely cavalcade of tasks and projects for his widow to complete, all narrated by him on tape, in a precious Irish brogue that's layered on sickeningly thick. It would take a logistical mastermind on par with Jigsaw from the Saw movies to plan such a thing, especially in his disease-weakened state. But even if a viewer chooses to suspend disbelief, P.S. I Love You is still a turnoff, as Swank rarely finds the right tone, and the movie itself can never figure out whether it wants to be heavy or light. Especially disappointing is Lisa Kudrow's best friend character, whose primary trait is that she asks every guy she meets if he's a) single, b) working and c) heterosexual. LaGravenese's writing is an equal culprit here. The film's one good performance belongs to Kathy Bates as Holly's mother, but her superlative scene comes far past the point when most viewers will have given up. Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

• 'P.S. I Love You' - Hollywood Premiere

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