Last night I watched PS I Love You for the second time in comforts of my own living room. The first time I viewed this film was with a friend at a movie theater. Now, I love sweet sappy stories. So when it came to this movie where the leading lady loses her man within the first five minutes, the tissues came out. However, on this second viewing, things appeared a little differently.

The cast of PS includes Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. Hilary we have known for more abrasive, and even tomboyish movies like Boys don’t Cry, Million Dollar Baby, and her latest Freedom Writers so it felt rather awkward to watch her “pretend” to be angry in the first scene, and “pretend” to miss Gerry, and the most annoying scene where they flashback to her in Ireland at nineteen. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hilary, but she does seem to look and act strangely in more feminine roles. Let’s talk about Gerry. I am biased about him because honestly, any guy with a British/Irish/Scottish accent can say anything and sound sexy. You know him from 300, Dear Frankie, and the ol’ Phantom of the Opera. Part of me feels bad he didn’t get any great lines, other than the same old same old movie romantic lines. You know what I mean. In fact, I feel sorry for much of the cast. This seemed like a sweet story gone badly. As the New York Times best described it as, “The big-screen equivalent of a paperback romance.” Kudos to Kudrow—she made everything brighter with her appearances. Poor Harry Connick, Jr. was just weird.  It was also strange that director Richard LaGravenese, who directed Freedom Writer, also directed Hilary in this movie. Maybe he was out of his element as well. I feel like this movie could have done better in the old Hollywood with stars like Joan Crawford, or even Katherine Hepburn.

But of course, all this does not matter when you’ve had a hard day and all you need is a sappy story like this and a pint of pistachio ice cream. You’re not evaluating the probability of the story or the level of acting…you just want to be entertained and feel something. I just loved the faux-Irish (Mr. Butler is from Glasgow) accent and scenes from Ireland. Also, the “small, cramped” apartment Holly continually complained about, I woudl die to have in NYC. Throw in great shoes, a cute apartment, good soundtrack, and two hunk-ably adorbale Irish guys and I’ll watch that!

P.S. I am so happy to be home again!