P.S. I Love You (film): Difference between revisions
| Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
==Plot== |
==Plot== |
||
Holly and Gerry are married couple who |
Holly and Gerry are a married couple who live on the [[Lower East Side]] of [[Manhattan]]. They fight almost everyday until Gerry dies suddenly of a brain tumor. Deeply distraught, Holly withdraws from her family and friends until they descend upon her on her 30th birthday. They are determined to force the young [[widow]] to face the future and decide what her next career move should be. As they rally around Holly and help organize her apartment, a cake is delivered, and on it is a message from Gerry. It proves to be the first of several — all ending with the sign-off P. S. I Love You — he arranged to have delivered to her after his death. As the seasons pass, each new message fills her with encouragement and sends her on a new adventure. While Holly's mother Patricia and her best friends Denise and Sharon are concerned Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past, they are in fact pushing her into the future. With Gerry's words as her guide, Holly slowly embarks on a journey of rediscovery. |
||
Gerry pre-arranged for Holly, Denise, and Sharon to travel to his homeland of [[Ireland]], and while there they meet William, a singer who strongly reminds Holly of her deceased husband and coincidentally was his childhood friend. During the vacation, Denise announces she's engaged and Sharon reveals she's pregnant, and the news causes Holly to relapse emotionally and once again withdraw into herself. |
Gerry pre-arranged for Holly, Denise, and Sharon to travel to his homeland of [[Ireland]], and while there they meet William, a singer who strongly reminds Holly of her deceased husband and coincidentally was his childhood friend. During the vacation, Denise announces she's engaged and Sharon reveals she's pregnant, and the news causes Holly to relapse emotionally and once again withdraw into herself. |
||
Revision as of 10:16, 14 February 2010
| P.S. I Love You | |
|---|---|
.jpg) DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Richard LaGravenese |
| Written by | Screenplay: Richard LaGravenese Steven Rogers Novel: Cecelia Ahern |
| Produced by | Wendy Finerman Broderick Johnson Andrew Kosove Molly Smith |
| Starring | Hilary Swank Gerard Butler Lisa Kudrow Gina Gershon Jeffrey Dean Morgan And Kathy Bates |
| Cinematography | Terry Stacey |
| Edited by | David Moritz |
| Music by | John Powell |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date | December 21, 2007 |
Running time | 125 minutes |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $145,066,081 (worldwide) |
P.S. I Love You is a 2007 American drama film directed by Richard LaGravenese. The screenplay by LaGravenese and Steven Rogers is based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Cecelia Ahern. The film is dedicated to the memory of producer Molly Smith's sister Windland Smith Rice.
Plot
Holly and Gerry are a married couple who live on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. They fight almost everyday until Gerry dies suddenly of a brain tumor. Deeply distraught, Holly withdraws from her family and friends until they descend upon her on her 30th birthday. They are determined to force the young widow to face the future and decide what her next career move should be. As they rally around Holly and help organize her apartment, a cake is delivered, and on it is a message from Gerry. It proves to be the first of several — all ending with the sign-off P. S. I Love You — he arranged to have delivered to her after his death. As the seasons pass, each new message fills her with encouragement and sends her on a new adventure. While Holly's mother Patricia and her best friends Denise and Sharon are concerned Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past, they are in fact pushing her into the future. With Gerry's words as her guide, Holly slowly embarks on a journey of rediscovery.
Gerry pre-arranged for Holly, Denise, and Sharon to travel to his homeland of Ireland, and while there they meet William, a singer who strongly reminds Holly of her deceased husband and coincidentally was his childhood friend. During the vacation, Denise announces she's engaged and Sharon reveals she's pregnant, and the news causes Holly to relapse emotionally and once again withdraw into herself.
Holly eventually enrolls in a fashion course and discovers she has a flair for designing women's shoes. A newfound self-confidence allows her to emerge from her solitude and embrace her friends' happiness. While on a walk with her mother, she learns that her mother was the one that Gerry asked to deliver his letters after his death. She decides to take her mother on a trip to Ireland, and as the film ends the audience is left with the notion that Holly has opened herself up to the journey that the rest of her life will be, and wherever it takes her; she finally abandons her fear of falling in love.
Cast
- Hilary Swank as Holly Kennedy
- Gerard Butler as Gerry Kennedy
- Lisa Kudrow as Denise Hennessey
- Gina Gershon as Sharon McCarthy
- James Marsters as John McCarthy
- Kathy Bates as Patricia Reilly
- Harry Connick Jr. as Daniel Connelly
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan as William Gallagher
- Nellie McKay as Ciara Reilly
Production
In A Conversation with Cecilia Ahern, a bonus feature on the DVD release of the film, the author of the original novel discusses the Americanization of her story — which was set in Ireland — for the screen and her satisfaction with the plot changes made by screenwriter/director Richard LaGravenese.
The film was shot on location in New York City and County Wicklow, Ireland.
Reception
Box office
The film opened on 2,454 screens in the US and earned $6,481,221 and ranked #6 on its opening weekend. It eventually grossed $53,695,808 at the US box office and $91,370,273 internationally for a total worldwide box office of $145,066,081.[1]
Critical response
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 21% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 86 reviews[2], while Metacritic indicated the film had an average score of 39 out of 100, based on 24 reviews.[3]
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times said the film "looks squeaky clean and utterly straight and very much removed from the shadow worlds in which Ms. Swank has done her best work. Yet as directed by Richard LaGravenese ... it has a curious morbid quality ... [It] won't win any awards; it isn't the sort of work that flatters a critic's taste. Its preposterous in big and small matters ... and there are several cringe-worthy set pieces, some involving Mr. Butler and a guitar. The film is not a beautiful object or a memorable cultural one, and yet it charms, however awkwardly. Ms. Swank’s ardent sincerity and naked emotionalism dovetail nicely with Mr. LaGravenese’s melodramatic excesses."[4]
David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "This is a movie that will leave you stunned and stupefied from beginning to end, if you don't head for the exits first. The only good things in it are Lisa Kudrow and Swank's wardrobe. The plot is unbelievable, although a competent script could have fixed that. The direction is flabby and uninspired, the casting is wrongheaded, and the performances run the gamut from uninteresting to insufferable ... the film wants terribly to be Ghost without a potter's wheel, but it just succeeds at being terrible."[5]
John Anderson of Variety opined, "The question of love after death has been asked frequently enough in the movies, but seldom with the high ick factor found in P.S. I Love You ... this post-life comedy will have the sentimentally challenged weeping openly, while clutching desperately to the pants-legs of boyfriends and husbands who are trying to flee up the aisle. Richard LaGravenese's trip into Lifetime territory may define the guilty pleasure of the genre ... As an exercise in chick-flickery, P.S. I Love You wants to possess the soulfulness of harsh reality and the lilt of romantic fantasy at the same time. In this case, at least, it simply can't be done."[6]
Awards and nominations
Hillary Swank won the 2008 People's Choice Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress.[7]
Music
The soundtrack includes "Love You 'til the End" and "Fairytale of New York" performed by The Pogues, "Everything We Had" by The Academy Is..., "Got Me Like Oh" by Gia Farrell, "In the Beginning" by The Stills, "No Other Love" by Chuck Prophet, "More Time" by Needtobreathe, "The Last Train Home" by Ryan Star, "Rewind" by Paolo Nutini, "My Sweet Song" by Toby Lightman, "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" by Flogging Molly,"Same Mistake" by James Blunt, "Galway Girl" by Steve Earle and the original film version of "The Man that Got Away" performed by Judy Garland with Swank singing along.
- Love You 'Till the End - The Pogues
- Same Mistake - James Blunt
- More Time - Needtobreathe
- Carousel - Laura Izibor
- Fortress - Hope
- Last Train Home - Ryan Star
- Rewind - Paolo Nutini
- My Sweet Song - Toby Lightman
- No Other Love - Chuck Prophet
- Everything We Had - The Academy Is...
- In the Beginning - The Stills
- If I Ever Leave This World Alive - Flogging Molly
- P.S. I Love You - Nellie McKay
- Kisses and Cake - John Powell
- Galway Girl - Steve Earle
References
- ^ BoxOfficeMojo.com
- ^ RottenTomatoes.com
- ^ Metacritic.com
- ^ New York Times review
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle review
- ^ John Anderson (2007-12-13). "P.S. I Love You". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Irish Film and Television Awards: 2008". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-09-27.