...the filmmakers mean well, but instead of a celebration of life, the whole thing seems like an extended wake.
There are also cute segments dealing with a karaoke bar, a singing messenger, and a "wild" dog, plus some gorgeous photography of Ireland late in the picture. But these bits are few and far between, and the rest of the film is filled with stereotypes and clichés. You say you like stereotypes and clichés? No problem; this film's got a boatload of them. Since Gerry is Irish, the film portrays him as boisterous, brawling, loving, and carefree, like all Irishmen. Since Holly is also Irish, their marriage is like all Irish marriages--they're fighting and quarreling one minute, loving and happy the next. Since Holly's mother is Irish, she owns a bar. And since the film sets the last third or so of the story in Ireland, it pictures everyone we see there as living in quaint country cottages overlooking rolling green hills, lakes, and woods.
At 127 minutes, the movie is much too long for its slender subject matter. With a healthy dose of pathos, not nearly enough humor mixed in with the romance, and a fairly mushy (if admittedly touching) ending, "P.S. I Love You" is a lot less than the sum of its parts.
Video:
The disc offers the film in two aspect ratios: 1.85:1 widescreen on one side and 1.33:1 full-screen on the other side. The full-screen ratio is not entirely a pan-and-scan affair, however. I made notes comparing a half dozen different paused pictures in both ratios and found in most cases that the full-screen did, indeed, have a good deal of information cropped off the sides. Yet in several of the pictures, I noticed that the widescreen had information cropped from the top or bottom. So I'd say that the WB engineers trimmed the two different ratios from the same 1.37:1 camera negative, losing some information, to varying degrees, left, right, top, or bottom in both cases. Nevertheless, I watched the film in widescreen, as that was what the director intended.
The picture quality in widescreen varies slightly from scene to scene. Colors, in general, are bright and deep, especially outdoor shots like the ones in Ireland. Then there are other scenes, like indoor shots in low lighting, that are somewhat rough and fuzzy in appearance, with darker areas of the screen, including small areas of shadow and even faces, looking a bit murky. Fortunately, there are no indications of excessive grain, noise, haloing, or the like, so the screen is fairly clean in that regard.
Audio:
There's not much to the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The movie is mostly dialogue and music, and the music is most often a solo voice and guitar. So, there is no great need for surround sound, wide dynamics, or deep bass. The front-channel stereo spread is more than adequate, and the tonal balance is smooth and natural. All is well.
Extras:
The pocketful of extras (repeated on both sides of the disc) begins with "A Conversation with Cecelia Ahern," seven minutes with the young author of the novel on which the filmmakers based the movie. Next is a music video, "Same Mistake," a song from the film, with James Blunt. Then there's "The Name of the Game Is Snaps: Learn How to Play," a cute, put-on advertisement for the goofy game in the movie. Finally, there is a series of additional scenes lasting about twelve minutes. Things wrap up with twenty-eight scene selections (but no chapter insert); several trailers at start-up on both sides of the disc; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Parting Shots:
During the months before the release of "P.S. I Love You" to theaters, I probably saw the trailer for it a half a dozen times, a trailer that suggested the movie was a romantic comedy. I'd say if you saw the trailer, you probably saw most of the film's humor. Otherwise, there isn't much substance, funny or otherwise, to the story nor much happening that you can't guess well in advance. Moreover, even though Holly and Gerry have a loving relationship, it puts rather a damper on the situation when he dies early on, and all we have to see forevermore is how happy the couple used to be and could have been. It's a story that probably reads better than it looks on screen.
At 127 minutes, the movie is much too long for its slender subject matter. With a healthy dose of pathos, not nearly enough humor mixed in with the romance, and a fairly mushy (if admittedly touching) ending, "P.S. I Love You" is a lot less than the sum of its parts.
Video:
The disc offers the film in two aspect ratios: 1.85:1 widescreen on one side and 1.33:1 full-screen on the other side. The full-screen ratio is not entirely a pan-and-scan affair, however. I made notes comparing a half dozen different paused pictures in both ratios and found in most cases that the full-screen did, indeed, have a good deal of information cropped off the sides. Yet in several of the pictures, I noticed that the widescreen had information cropped from the top or bottom. So I'd say that the WB engineers trimmed the two different ratios from the same 1.37:1 camera negative, losing some information, to varying degrees, left, right, top, or bottom in both cases. Nevertheless, I watched the film in widescreen, as that was what the director intended.
The picture quality in widescreen varies slightly from scene to scene. Colors, in general, are bright and deep, especially outdoor shots like the ones in Ireland. Then there are other scenes, like indoor shots in low lighting, that are somewhat rough and fuzzy in appearance, with darker areas of the screen, including small areas of shadow and even faces, looking a bit murky. Fortunately, there are no indications of excessive grain, noise, haloing, or the like, so the screen is fairly clean in that regard.
Audio:
There's not much to the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The movie is mostly dialogue and music, and the music is most often a solo voice and guitar. So, there is no great need for surround sound, wide dynamics, or deep bass. The front-channel stereo spread is more than adequate, and the tonal balance is smooth and natural. All is well.
Extras:
The pocketful of extras (repeated on both sides of the disc) begins with "A Conversation with Cecelia Ahern," seven minutes with the young author of the novel on which the filmmakers based the movie. Next is a music video, "Same Mistake," a song from the film, with James Blunt. Then there's "The Name of the Game Is Snaps: Learn How to Play," a cute, put-on advertisement for the goofy game in the movie. Finally, there is a series of additional scenes lasting about twelve minutes. Things wrap up with twenty-eight scene selections (but no chapter insert); several trailers at start-up on both sides of the disc; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Parting Shots:
During the months before the release of "P.S. I Love You" to theaters, I probably saw the trailer for it a half a dozen times, a trailer that suggested the movie was a romantic comedy. I'd say if you saw the trailer, you probably saw most of the film's humor. Otherwise, there isn't much substance, funny or otherwise, to the story nor much happening that you can't guess well in advance. Moreover, even though Holly and Gerry have a loving relationship, it puts rather a damper on the situation when he dies early on, and all we have to see forevermore is how happy the couple used to be and could have been. It's a story that probably reads better than it looks on screen.
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[release]23291[/release]