After her husband dies of cancer, Holly is inconsolable and finds it impossible to pick up her life again. Then she starts receiving letters he wrote to her before he passed away. Will these messages help her get back on her feet? Or are Holly’s friends right, and should she stop obsessing over them?

Being the biggest Gerard Butler fan in six known universes, I was eagerly awaiting this film. Not just because Butler’s in it (I am not actually that shallow), but because it features Oscar winners Hilary Swank and Kathy Bates as well as a lovely supporting cast, and because writer/director Richard LaGravenese previously wrote the screenplays for Bridges of Madison County, Freedom Writers and The Fisher King and therefore has established himself as a fine writer. In addition, the story seemed kind of sweet to me (ever since I fell in love last year, I have been a sap of the worst kind I’m afraid).

Unfortunately P.S. I Love You does not quite deliver. The script is indeed well written, but the execution fails somewhat. It starts off wonderfully, and has one or two surprises stored away at the end where it veers slightly off the beaten RomCom-path, but in between, the main impression I was left with is that P.S. I Love You is a film that finds it hard to choose what it wants to be.

Here is the problem: P.S. I Love You is a romantic comedy about a dramatic event. Therefore, the drama is underplayed and the comedy does not quite sparkle as much as it should.

Interestingly the weakest link is Ms. Swank whose performance is either a touch too melodramatic or not funny enough and – much like the film itself – just does not manage to hit the right spot very often. Gerard Butler (who after merely doing a lot of shouting in 300, proves that, yes, he can in fact act) is at his most charming but, being dead and all, has limited screen time. The supporting cast featuring Kathy Bates, James Masters, Lisa Kudrow and the fabulous Gina Gershon, are unable to elevate things to the desired level. Pleasant surprise however is Harry Connick jr. who is allowed to be all-out funny and carries it off brilliantly. Which is why he gets a well-deserved honourable mention here.

Most of the time P.S. I Love You is either too light on its feet or not light enough. It could have been a poignant drama about love, mourning and the rebuilding of one’s life in the face of great loss (something LaGravenese pulled off brilliantly in his scripts for Bridges of Madison County and The Fisher King). Or it could have been a romantic comedy in the style of When Harry met Sally, or Sleepless in Seattle without the excess sugar. But because it tries to be both things at the same time, we as an audience do not become invested enough to really feel for – and with – the main characters. Like them, we are left wondering if we should laugh or cry and therefore end up not caring enough to do either.