P.S. I Love You (film)
Encyclopedia
P.S. I Love You is a 2007 American drama film directed by Richard LaGravenese
Richard LaGravenese
Richard LaGravenese is an American screenwriter and occasional film director. He is best known as the writer of The Fisher King.-Personal life:...

. The screenplay by LaGravenese and Steven Rogers is based on the 2004 novel of the same name
PS, I Love You
P.S. I Love You is Irish writer Cecelia Ahern's first novel, published in 2004. The book reached #1 bestseller status in Ireland , the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands.-Characters in "P.S...

 by Cecelia Ahern
Cecelia Ahern
Cecelia Ahern is an Irish novelist, since 2004. In addition to publishing several novels, she has also contributed a number of short stories to various anthologies, for which all her royalties go to charity.Ahern also created and produced the ABC comedy Samantha Who? starring Christina Applegate...

. The film is dedicated to the memory of producer Molly Smith's sister Windland Smith Rice
Windland Smith Rice
Sandra Windland "Wendy" Smith Rice was an American photographer well known for her work in nature and animals.-Biography:Rice was the first child of Frederick W. Smith, founder of FedEx. FedEx's first plane in 1973 was named Wendy after her....

.

Plot

Holly and Gerry are a married couple who live on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....

 of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. They are deeply in love, but they fight occasionally. Gerry dies suddenly of a brain tumor and Holly realizes how much he means to her as well as how insignificant their arguments were.

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
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

 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 with it is a message from Gerry. It proves to be the first of several meaningful messages — all ending with "P.S. I Love You" — he arranged to have delivered after his death. As the seasons pass, each new message fills her with encouragement and sends her on a new adventure. Holly's mother Patricia believes Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past. But 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 arranged for Holly, Denise, and Sharon to travel to his homeland of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. 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 out of sadness.

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 who Gerry asked to deliver his letters after his death. She takes 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 again.

Cast

  • Hilary Swank
    Hilary Swank
    Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...

     as Holly Kennedy
  • Gerard Butler
    Gerard Butler
    Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...

     as Gerry Kennedy
  • Lisa Kudrow
    Lisa Kudrow
    Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...

     as Denise Hennessey
  • Gina Gershon
    Gina Gershon
    Gina L. Gershon is an American film, television and stage actress, singer and author, known for her roles in the films Cocktail , Showgirls , Bound , Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back , Face/Off , The Insider , Demonlover , Category 7: The End of the World , P.S...

     as Sharon McCarthy
  • James Marsters
    James Marsters
    James Wesley Marsters is an American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond yobbish English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel from 1997 to 2004...

     as John McCarthy
  • Kathy Bates
    Kathy Bates
    Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...

     as Patricia Reilly
  • Harry Connick Jr. as Daniel Connelly
  • Jeffrey Dean Morgan
    Jeffrey Dean Morgan
    Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor, best known to television and movie audiences as Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy, patriarch John Winchester on Supernatural, and as The Comedian in the 2009 superhero film Watchmen....

     as William Gallagher
  • Nellie McKay
    Nellie McKay
    Nellie McKay , is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and former stand-up comedienne, noted for her critically acclaimed albums, and for her Broadway debut in The Threepenny Opera , for which she won a Theatre World Award...

     as Ciara Reilly
  • Nitesh Upraity as Supersta

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
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 — for the screen and her satisfaction with the plot changes made by screenwriter/director Richard LaGravenese.

The film was shot on locations in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and County Wicklow
County Wicklow
County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

.

Box office

The film opened on 2,454 screens in North America and earned $6,481,221 and ranked #6 on its opening weekend. It eventually grossed $53,695,808 at the North American box office and $91,370,273 in the rest of the world for a total worldwide box office of $156,835,339.

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 reported that 23 percent of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 86 reviews, while Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 indicated the film had an average score of 39 out of 100, based on 24 reviews.

Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...

 of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

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. It's 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 melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...

tic excesses."

David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

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
Ghost (film)
Ghost is a 1990 romantic drama film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. It was written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker.-Plot:...

without a potter's wheel, but it just succeeds at being terrible."

John Anderson of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

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
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...

 territory may define the guilty pleasure of the genre ... As an exercise in chick-flickery
Chick flick
Chick flick is a slang term for a film mainly dealing with love and romance designed to appeal to a female target audience. Although many types of films may be directed toward the female gender, "chick flick" is typically used only in reference to films that are heavy with emotion or contain themes...

, 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."

Stephen Whitty of The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...

said, "On a week when many people just want a good reason to put down their packages and smile for a couple of hours, P.S. I Love You arrives -- signed, sealed and delivered just on time."

Awards and nominations

Hilary Swank won the 2008 People's Choice Irish Film and Television Award
Irish Film and Television Awards
The Irish Film and Television Awards were first awarded in 2003. Its sole aim is to celebrate Ireland's notably talented film and television community...

 for Best International Actress.

Music

The soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

 includes "Love You 'til the End" and "Fairytale of New York
Fairytale of New York
"Fairytale of New York" is a song by the Irish rock group The Pogues, released in 1987 and featuring the British singer Kirsty MacColl. The song is an Irish folk style ballad, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, and featured on The Pogues' album If I Should Fall from Grace with God...

" performed by The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...

, "Everything We Had" by The Academy Is...
The Academy Is...
The Academy Is... was an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2003. Before dispersing, they were signed by the Decaydance imprint of the Fueled by Ramen label. They were originally known as "The Academy", but added the "Is..." in 2004 to avoid legal complications with other...

, "Got Me Like Oh" by Gia Farrell
Gia Farrell
Jeannie Marie Bocchicchio , better known by her stage name Gia Farrell, is an American singer-songwriter. Her 2006 single "Hit Me Up" was featured on the Happy Feet soundtrack in 2006.-Early life:...

, "In the Beginning" by The Stills
The Stills
The Stills were a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2000. The band consists of Tim Fletcher , Dave Hamelin , Olivier Corbeil , and Liam O'Neil , Gregory Paquet .-History:The band members have known each other since the age of...

, "No Other Love" by Chuck Prophet
Chuck Prophet
Chuck Prophet is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. A Californian, Prophet first achieved notice in the American psychedelic/desert rock group Green on Red, with whom he toured and recorded in the 1980s...

, "More Time
More Time
"More Time" is a song by Christian rock band Needtobreathe and the second single from their 2007 album The Heat. The song was featured in the 2007 film P.S. I Love You and its soundtrack.-Chart performance:...

" by Needtobreathe
Needtobreathe
Needtobreathe is an American rock band from Seneca, South Carolina. The band has charted on mainstream rock/pop charts, but have had their greatest number of singles on Christian music charts...

, "The Last Train Home" by Ryan Star
Ryan Star
Ryan Star is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Long Island, New York. He was also a reality television contestant on the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova.-Biography:...

, "Rewind" by Paolo Nutini
Paolo Nutini
Paolo Giovanni Nutini is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley. His father is of Italian descent, from Barga, Tuscany, although both his parents are Scottish, his family having been in Scotland for three generations....

, "My Sweet Song" by Toby Lightman
Toby Lightman
Toby Lightman is an American singer-songwriter. Her first album, Little Things, was released in 2004 on Lava/Atlantic. Her second album, Bird on a Wire was released in 2006. During her career, she has toured and performed with bands such as OAR, Rob Thomas, Jewel, Gavin DeGraw, Train, Prince, and...

, "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" by Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish-descendant band from Los Angeles, California, that is currently signed to their own record label, Borstal Beat Records.-Early years:...

,"Same Mistake" by James Blunt
James Blunt
James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...

. Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura (band)
Camera Obscura are an indie pop band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band formed in 1996 and have released four albums to date.-History:Camera Obscura were formed in 1996 by Tracyanne Campbell, John Henderson, and Gavin Dunbar. Several other members performed with the band before David Skirving joined...

's "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
Let's Get Out of This Country
Let's Get Out of This Country is the third LP from the indie pop band Camera Obscura.It was produced by Jari Haapalainen of The Bear Quartet. "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" was played over the opening credits of the film P.S...

" also plays in the opening credits.
  1. "Love You 'Till the End" by The Pogues
    The Pogues
    The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...

  2. "Same Mistake" by James Blunt
    James Blunt
    James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...

  3. "More Time" by Needtobreathe
    Needtobreathe
    Needtobreathe is an American rock band from Seneca, South Carolina. The band has charted on mainstream rock/pop charts, but have had their greatest number of singles on Christian music charts...

  4. "Carousel" by Laura Izibor
    Laura Izibor
    Laura Elizabeth Arabosa Izibor is an Irish recording artist, musician and producer. She won the RTÉ 2fm song contest while still in secondary school. She went on to win an award at the 2006 Meteor Music Awards. She also performed at that year's Electric Picnic music festival and Music Ireland 2007...

  5. "Fortress" by Hope
    HOPE (band)
    Hope is a Canadian punk rock band formed in 1992 based out of Riverview, New Brunswick. The band consists of songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Dana Robertson, bassist Jamie "Jimmy" Oldfield, songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Marco "The Chief" Rocca, and drummer Tom "T-Bone" Antle.- Early Days :Hope was...

  6. "Last Train Home" by Ryan Star
    Ryan Star
    Ryan Star is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Long Island, New York. He was also a reality television contestant on the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova.-Biography:...

  7. "Rewind" by Paolo Nutini
    Paolo Nutini
    Paolo Giovanni Nutini is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley. His father is of Italian descent, from Barga, Tuscany, although both his parents are Scottish, his family having been in Scotland for three generations....

  8. "My Sweet Song" by Toby Lightman
    Toby Lightman
    Toby Lightman is an American singer-songwriter. Her first album, Little Things, was released in 2004 on Lava/Atlantic. Her second album, Bird on a Wire was released in 2006. During her career, she has toured and performed with bands such as OAR, Rob Thomas, Jewel, Gavin DeGraw, Train, Prince, and...

  9. "No Other Love" by Chuck Prophet
    Chuck Prophet
    Chuck Prophet is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. A Californian, Prophet first achieved notice in the American psychedelic/desert rock group Green on Red, with whom he toured and recorded in the 1980s...

  10. "Everything We Had" by The Academy Is...
    The Academy Is...
    The Academy Is... was an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2003. Before dispersing, they were signed by the Decaydance imprint of the Fueled by Ramen label. They were originally known as "The Academy", but added the "Is..." in 2004 to avoid legal complications with other...

  11. "In the Beginning" by The Stills
    The Stills
    The Stills were a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2000. The band consists of Tim Fletcher , Dave Hamelin , Olivier Corbeil , and Liam O'Neil , Gregory Paquet .-History:The band members have known each other since the age of...

  12. "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" by Flogging Molly
    Flogging Molly
    Flogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish-descendant band from Los Angeles, California, that is currently signed to their own record label, Borstal Beat Records.-Early years:...

  13. "P.S. I Love You" by Nellie McKay
    Nellie McKay
    Nellie McKay , is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and former stand-up comedienne, noted for her critically acclaimed albums, and for her Broadway debut in The Threepenny Opera , for which she won a Theatre World Award...

  14. "Kisses and Cake" by John Powell
    John Powell
    John Powell is a British composer, best known for his scores to motion pictures. He has been based in the United States since 1997 and has composed the scores to over fifty feature films. He rose to fame in the late 1990s and 2000s, scoring numerous animated films, and collaborating with...



Trouble performed by Greg Dulli and Kerry Brown (not on Official movie soundtrack)

See also

  • 2007 in film
    2007 in film
    This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...

  • Cinema of the United States
    Cinema of the United States
    The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

  • List of American films of 2007
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK