P.S.

I Love You (film)

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P.S. I Love You
PS I Love You (film).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Richard LaGravenese
Produced by
Wendy Finerman
Broderick Johnson
Andrew Kosove
Molly Smith
Screenplay by Richard LaGravenese
Steven Rogers
Based on PS, I Love You
by Cecelia Ahern
Starring
Hilary Swank
Gerard Butler
Lisa Kudrow
Gina Gershon
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Kathy Bates
Harry Connick Jr.
James Marsters
Music by John Powell
Cinematography Terry Stacey
Edited by David Moritz
Production
company
Alcon Entertainment
Grosvenor Park Productions
2S Films
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
December 21, 2007
Running time
125 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million
Box office $156,835,339
P.S. I Love You is a 2007 American tragedy romance 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. It stars Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa
Kudrow, Gina Gershon, James Marsters, Harry Connick Jr. and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It
was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Momentum Pictures. The film received
negative reviews, with criticism being directed at Swank's performance. Despite the
reviews, it was a box office success and grossed $156 million on a $30 million
budget.

Contents
1 Plot
2 Differences between novel and film adaptation
3 Cast
4 Production
5 Soundtrack
6 Reception
6.1 Critical response
6.2 Box office
6.3 Accolades
7 Cultural influence
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
Plot
Holly and Gerry are a married couple who live on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
They are deeply in love though they fight occasionally. One winter, Gerry dies of a
brain tumor, and Holly realizes how much he meant to her as well as how
insignificant their arguments were.

Deeply distraught, Holly withdraws from her family and friends out of grief until
they descend upon her on her 30th birthday. She doesn't want to live anymore
without him.They are determined to prod the young widow to face the future and
explore what her life choices 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" � which he had 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. Holly's mother believes that 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 and her friends Denise and Sharon to travel to his
homeland of Ireland. They arrive at their destination, a house in the beautiful
Irish countryside where they find letters from Gerry for Sharon & Denise, one
asking Denise to take Holly to his favorite pub. While there, they meet William, a
singer who strongly reminds Holly of her deceased husband. He asks her to stay to
see him after his last song ("Galway Girl"), which he dedicates to her. Upon
hearing it, she is overcome with emotion and walks out, because it was the song
Gerry sang to her shortly after they first met.

During the vacation, while on a fishing trip, they lose the boat's oars, leaving
the three women stranded in the middle of a lake. During their wait for help,
Sharon announces that she is pregnant and Denise reveals she is getting married.
This news causes Holly to relapse emotionally and again withdraw into herself. They
are eventually rescued by William, whom Sharon and Denise invite to stay the night
because of the pouring rain.

Unable to deny their feelings for each other, William and Holly kiss and have sex.
They begin a conversation about her deceased husband and Holly asks William to
drive her to visit her in-laws. Upon Holly revealing their names, William realizes
she is the widow of his childhood best friend. Revealing this to Holly causes her
to panic, but William calms her down and starts to tell stories about his and
Gerry's childhood. The next day, Holly visits Gerry's parents and while there, she
also receives a letter from Gerry reminding her of their first meeting.

Arriving home, Holly again withdraws from family and friends. As she continues to
become more and more lost, she is inspired by Gerry after finding one of his
suspender clips next to one of her shoes and realizes she has a flair for designing
women's shoes; she enrolls in a class that teaches how to actually make the shoes
she has designed. A new found 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 whom Gerry
asked to deliver his letters after his death and receives the last letter. As the
film ends with Holly taking her mother on a trip to Ireland, we see that Holly has
opened herself up to the journey beginning with the next chapter of her life, and
wherever it takes her she has the hope of falling in love again.

Differences between novel and film adaptation

The major difference between the novel and its film adaptation is that, in the
novel, the main characters Holly and Gerry Kennedy are Irish. In the film, only
Gerry is Irish, Holly and her family are Irish Americans, and the two live in New
York. Also in the novel, Holly has numerous siblings, but in the film she has one.
The film adds a character called William, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Another
change is that in the books, the letters arrive all in a package together and Holly
is expected to open them once a month. In the movie, the letters are delivered by
mail. The film remains fairly true to the novel, and all of Gerry's letters are
virtually unchanged.

Cast
Hilary Swank as Holly Reilly-Kennedy
Gerard Butler as Gerry Kennedy
Lisa Kudrow as Denise Hennessey
Gina Gershon as Sharon McCarthy
James Marsters as John McCarthy
Harry Connick Jr. as Daniel Connelly
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as William Gallagher
Nellie McKay as Ciara Reilly, Holly's sister
Kathy Bates as Patricia Reilly, Holly and Ciara's mother
Anne Kent as Rose Kennedy, Gerry's mother
Brian McGrath as Martin Kennedy, Gerry's father
Production
In A Conversation with Cecilia Ahern, a bonus feature on the DVD release of the
film, the author of the novel discusses the Americanization of her story � which
was set in Ireland � for the screen and her satisfaction with the plot changes
which screenwriter/director Richard LaGravenese had to make in order to fit the
book into the screen.

The film was shot on locations in New York City and County Wicklow, Ireland.[1]

Soundtrack

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P.S. I Love You
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released December 3, 2007[2]
Genre Pop
Length 56:44
Label Atlantic
The soundtrack for the film was released on December 3, 2007.

"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
"Trouble" � performed by Greg Dulli and Kerry Brown
The film also includes "Fairytale of New York" performed by The Pogues, "Got Me
Like Oh" by Gia Farrell, "No Other Love" by Chuck Prophet, "Mustang Sally"
performed by Gerard Butler and "Galway Girl" written and originally released by
Steve Earle, performed by Gerard Butler, Nancy Davis, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Camera Obscura's "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" also plays in the opening
credits. None of songs are included on the official soundtrack.

Reception
Critical response
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives a score of 24% based on 99
reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Hilary Swank is miscast as the
romantic lead in this clich�d film about loss and love."[3] At Metacritic the film
received a weighted average score of 39%, based on 24 reviews.[4]

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. 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 melodramatic excesses."[5]

David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "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."[6]

John Anderson of Variety also had a negative review: "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."[7]

Stephen Whitty of The Oregonian wrote, "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."[8]

Irish reviewers were particularly critical of Butler's Irish accent.[9][10][11]

Butler later jokingly apologized for his poor effort at an Irish accent.[12]

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.[13]

Accolades
Hilary Swank won the 2008 People's Choice Irish Film and Television Award for Best
International Actress.[citation needed]

Cultural influence
Dialogue between Connick's and Swank's characters inspired Reba McEntire's 2011
single "Somebody's Chelsea".[14]

See also
The Letter (1997 film) (South Korea)
The Letter (2004 film) (Thai Remake)
2007 in film
Cinema of the United States
List of American films of 2007