PS I Love You isn't a terrible movie, it's just that it is not necessarily a good one either. The book I agree is better, much more coherent and emotional to the core. What I did like about PS I Love You was the gorgeous scenery and lilting soundtrack. Also Kathy Bates gives a beautifully understated performances that at least elevated the appeal of the film a bit. Also the film does start off really well, with some genuine emotion there. However, the story is rather disjointed with some awkward shifts, and the pace throughout is rather slow and dull. Emotionally, particularly in the middle it feels rather unfocused and hollow, and very few of the characters I cared entirely for. Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank are okay and are easy on the eyes but the chemistry doesn't quite resonate. Overall, neither bad or good, just verging on average. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Holly (Hilary Swank) is in a tumultuous relationship with her husband Gerry (Gerard Butler). Holly is devastated when Gerry dies from a brain tumor. Before he died, he sends her a message on her 30th birthday. He would send her a series of letters leading her to have adventures and re-engaging her to the world.

I'm not sure I can root for Swank-Butler relationship. The letters are creepy to say the least. And Butler is smirky even when he's dead and we can only hear him. Swank is ill suited for rom-coms struggling hard to be cute. Harry Connick Jr. is probably better as the dead husband. At least he wouldn't be as creepy as the voice from the afterlife. Lisa Kudrow does some funny bits as a single girl always out on the hunt. This is a gimmicky movie that gets by mostly due to the likable Hilary Swank. It's meant to be a tearjerker, but the main message is so cliché. No tears were shed for this movie.

Hilary Swank plays Holly Kennedy, a fragile real estate broker who cannot hold down her job and gets married young to happy go lucky Irishman Gerry (Gerard Butler) but he dies of a brain tumour leaving Holly as a grieving young widow whose life comes to a stand still.

On her 30th birthday party she gets a surprise posthumous letter from Gerry informing her that he will be regularly sending her messages containing tasks that she is to perform without question or hesitation. Each message is signed off with the words PS I Love You.

With the help of her friends and family Holly follows Gerry's messages such as singing in a bar or going to his Irish village to meet his parents. With the aid of flashbacks we see the significance of some of these tasks. This all leads to a possible romance with eccentric but funny bartender (Harry Connick Jr) who admires her from afar but realises that she may not be ready to move on from Gerry.

Eventually Holly learns that these tasks from Gerry is for her to put the past behind her and move on with her life.

As a romantic comedy the film is a maudlin cringe inducing mess. I was dumbstruck with the sheer awfulness of this contrived nonsense. I never really bought Holly and Gerry as a couple and believed for a second that Gerry could plan all these tasks for his wife when he was dying.

Just look at the scenes set in Ireland. Holly ventures into a small pub and just happens to stumble upon someone singing a song that Gerry sang to her. She is pushed by her friends to have a drink with the singer (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and before long they end up in bed because he also just happens to single and available. It turns out that he was also an old friend and a member of Gerry's band.

It simply is a ridiculous film that plods along in a far fetched, drab and clichéd manner.