Customer Reviews

Ps [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"P.S." is that rarest of movies -- the romantic movie that ponders as it loves. Not just "what would it be like if you could have your first love again?", but "what mistakes have you made in love?" It treads on risky turf, but for the sake of pondering love and loss rather than for shock effect -- and that makes it worth watching, despite the awkward scripting.

Louise Harrington (Laura Linney) is a divorced woman in her late thirties, the director of admissions at Columbia. Her only friend is her ex-husband Peter (Gabriel Byrne), and her life is steady but very boring. All that changes in an instant when she sees a familiar name: F. Scott Feinstadt. That was the name of her high school boyfriend, an art student who was stolen away from her and tragically killed in a car crash. Same birthday too.

Louise calls in the young man (Topher Grace), and is stunned to see that he's also an artist, who even looks like her dead boyfriend. She decides that their meeting is fate, or that she is being given a second chance at her old love, and he's strangely drawn to this quiet, sad woman. The two fall into a passionate, awkward affair, that leads to Louise reexamining her life and her loves.

It sounds like a middle-aged woman's fantasy. But it's actually more of a personal journey -- Louise is called on to deal with the realities of her past, and to reasses her life in every way. It's a romance between a young man and older woman, yes, but it's not a Mrs. Robinson-style fantasy. It's only a part of Louise's problems and changes.

The scripting is not as good as the idea, however -- director Dylan Kidd doesn't explore the fate-related questions it brings up, like the strange similarities between the dead Scott and the new one. And he throws random curve balls (like Peter's sex addiction). And why have Louise seduce Scott within an hour of meeting him? Despite these weird occurrances, Kidd does what he does best -- outstanding dialogue that is frank and straightforward, and gives the characters new dimensions.

What really makes this movie shine is Laura Linney, an excellent actress only just starting to be recognized for her talents. She makes Louise warm, sad, passionate and locked in the past -- and it all works. Byrne is solid Topher Grace gives an endearing performance as Louise's boytoy, but isn't given much more to do.

Dylan Kidd's sophomore movie "P.S." hits a bit of a slump, but not a total one. Despite some awkward scenes, the movie is poignant and funny, and the endearing lead Linney overcomes a somewhat flat plot.

This was a wonderful, subtle film about love, in its many different forms. Love in a failed marriage, high school crushes, the idea of a fantasy lover reincarnated, and the expectations of love placed upon the fantasy lover.

Topher Grace was outstanding. There wasn't the barest hint of his character from That 70s show, which is refreshing, because in almost every Ashton Kutcher film there are plenty of hints. I always thought that Grace would be the better actor of the two, and I think we're starting to see that.

Laura Linney turned in a wonderful performance as always. She's as reliable as a brownstone. I've never once seen an imperfection in any of her performances. Any scene in which she evokes emotions are perfectly done.

One can't help but wonder how one would react in Louise's (Linney) situation, and the film did a very good job of sharing her reaction with us, so that we shared it with her. Her immediate attraction to Fran (Grace), and her immediate and passionate desire for sexual relations was compulsive. I found myself feeling sorry for, knowing that she wasn't having sex with him; rather, she was having sex with the F. Scott she loved from high school. It seems that she eventually came to love Fran for who he was, although the age difference was significant and didn't seem to be addressed at all. I would have liked to understand Fran's attraction to older women a little better. I certainly understand that very often younger men or women are attracted to older women or men (or the reverse), but usually each situation is unique, so to see what Fran's unique attraction was would have been interesting and very telling about who he is.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting to like this film. The concept of reincarnated love is a territory that's been explored extensively (recently uncomfortably so in Birth, starring Nicole Kidman). I only rented the film to see if my estimations regarding Topher Grace were correct. Not only did I find out that they were, but I also enjoyed the film immensely. It was touching, intelligent, thought provoking, and layered. For a film marketed as a drama/comedy, that's fairly unusual - and refreshing.

This film is a romance with a twist even a touch quirky but well worth viewing for both the writing and acting.

Louise Harrington (Laura Linney) is a 39 year old college admissions worker. Her marriage/divorce from Professor Peter Harrington (Gabriel Byrne) is amicable but as friends new incidents that occurred during their marriage are revealed which throw Louise off kilter. Almost at the same time a young art student appears with the name F. Scott Feinstadt (Topher Grace) and his name is not the only coincidence to an old love who passed away. Searching for connection Louise interviews F. Scott and a May-December relationship begins but not without its faults. Does Louise love F. Scott or the memory of another man? Add to the flame her best friend Missy Goldberg (Marcia Gay Harden) who encourages the memory and adds to the mess.

Laura Linney is wonderful in her role as a woman with a re-ignited flame. Opposite Linney is Marcia Gay Harden as the stalking greedy best friend always looking to one up Linney. Gabriel Byrne does a great job as a troubled professor who can't seem to figure out his true heart. And Topher Grace accomplishes the naive student role extremely well however for my tastes he isn't the perfect romantic lead...a little too boyish in my opinion and a sort of creepy. But the idea is certainly interesting. Is it re-incarnation, mistaken identity or just a strange coincidence luckily it is all explained in the end.

P.S.......Not sure this film would have worked if the gender roles had been reversed!

Laura Linney stars in this strange and wonderful film as Louise an admissions officer at Columbia University, her life seems normal and she is a divorced middle aged woman who has a close friendship with her ex-husband played by Gabriel Burn but it seems like her life might be unfufilled untill she comes across an application for a graduate student named F.Scott (Topher Grace) that catches her attention. When she calls this applicant on the phone she realises that the voice sounds familiar and is immidiately reminded of her first love in highschool, she calls F.Scott and schedules an interview and as soon as he arrives she is both shocked and amazed at the uncanny resemblence he has with her first love and boyfriend who died in a car crash at a young age which is the same age as F.Scott, she wants to rekindle old passions. Also starring Marcia [...] Harden who plays missy her eccentric and snobby friend which I thought was a funny role Missy was the one who stole her boyfriend from her, the film also stars Paul Rudd as her brother who just got out of rehab and is trying to get his life back together although his role was short he was terrific. Laura Linney is of course one of the best and most talented actresses I have ever seen and I will watch any film she stars in thats how good she is, her character Louise was great and she shows how strong and confident this person is despite her persuing a relationship with a person that is almost 15 years younger than she is, her life changes and we feel like she finally finds some happiness in her life, all the other performances were great as well and I couldn't recomend this film highly enough although its not perfect like the scene where Louise confronts her husband after the devastating revalation he tells her about himself, the scene could have been better instead of being slightly boring. Overall this film is a wonderfull romantic drama film that is very different and I highly recomend this.

Laura Linney, Topher Grace, Gabriel Byrne, and Marcia Gay Harden star in "p.s.", a romantic soap opera that starts slowly but gets you involved about a half-hour in with its intermingled storyline and satsifying two-dimensional characterizations by the lead characters.

Linney -- a great actress with a tendency to eschew glamour roles for more earthbound and realisitc portrayals -- is admissions director for an art program at Columbia University. She receives an application from Grace, who has the same name and appearance as an artist-boyfriend from her youth, a boyfriend she shared with best friend Hayden. Linney's ex-husband and still friend, Byrne, adds fuel to this volatile mixture when he admits he was a sex addict during their marriage and made love to hundreds of women "and men, too."

After Linney begins an affair with Grace -- her seeming boyfriend raised from the dead -- she has a great line after her admission of her ex's failures during their marriage. "He cheated on you?" Grace asks; "He probably bleeped you at some point," Linney responds...only she didn't say bleeped.

This movie is slow getting under way but interesting and fun in the final hour. Its pathos is genuine and reminiscent of the effect Linney created in her made-for-cable film "Wild Iris" which I think is her best work. I very much like that an actress of Linney's stature (an Academy award winner for her role in "Kinsey") will take on roles that are more deomcratic to audiences, who can in turn connect with her character and respond to even the most foolish elements of the storyboard.

Buy, rent or borrow this flick if you enjoy romance, soap opera, or otherwise like effective socialization in cinema. While nothing like this ever happened in my life this movie reminded me of a many of the feelings I had while an undergraduate; it might do the same for you.

I thought this movie was amazing. It made me curious in the beginning, hot in the love scenes, sad close to the end, and happpy and optimistic now. Topher Grace is wonderful in this movie, i have to say it is his best yet! I immediately fell in love with his character and only hope to meet someone like him someday.

by Dane Youssef


"P.S." is one of those rare movies that tells a story which feels too good to be true--the kind that's escapist-fantasy and only seems to happen in movies and in our most desperate dreams.

But then again, sometimes we see and here that it does happen in real life. Once in a blue moon. It's every great success story. Like movie-star Lana Turner getting discovered when working in a pharmacy or Muhammad Ali's almost inhumanly-impossible success with his career in the ring, who talked like a professional wrestler.

"P.S." is a movie like that. It tells a story as sweet as a fairy tale, that maybe could happen in life. Where a woman feels like when she loses someone, she loses her chance in life. But then something else comes along that is so incredible, it feels like the divine hand. Is God giving her a do-over? And not being so subtle about it?

Laura Linney continues her streak of must-see movies and Oscar-caliber performances here as Louise, a middle-aged admissions director who's been through a real losing streak throughout her life.

She's recently divorced from her husband, a compulsive sex-addict who's diddled anyone who's set toe in his class. Her best friend seduced away her boyfriend in high school and is now married in an upper-middle class suburb to a man she threatens to cheat on if he doesn't fulfill his "husbandly duties." She's living the kind of life every woman wants to in her most cynical, vengeful, self-absorbed fantasies.

Laura's getting older, life's getting harder (and it hasn't been very charmed to begin with). She begins to see all her hopes and dreams fading fast. And things get even more interesting when see has a private one-on-one interview with a potential art student.

This guy is just her type. Not only, but... he bares an uncanny resemblance to her late college boyfriend, an art major with a passion that matched hers. This guy doesn't just look--he sounds, acts, behaves and his art is even similar. Louise is in shock.

What is this? Coincidence? Incidental? Has she been working herself too hard? Stress? Reincarnation? An escapist-fantasy movie-plot? Whatever it is, Louise is rubbing here eyes while warming up to this guy. Getting to know him... finds herself feeling something.... While trying to keep her feelings at bay. She's a skeptic. She's got one heck a heck of a track record.

One of the most refreshing things about the actress Laura Linney is that she's not just another manufactured beauty from off the assembly line. She's not just another actress. She's not "one of a million." She's just so real. She's not movie-star-ish.

She doesn't wear designer clothes wherever she goes, live in a six-story mansion of Muhulland Dr, smoke cigarettes from a long black holder and have a private trophy room for all her honors. When she acts, it doesn't feel like acting. You feel you know her. She's a real person.

The same hold true for Topher Grace, which explains his success as an actor. He seems so adult, so grown-up for his age. Grace is charismatic and seems smart, his gift and his power on-screen doesn't come from a natural Brando-like acting talent, but his face, his body, his voice, his personality. Somehow, everything he says sounds like he means it. He's so square, so on-the-level. All he has to do is speak to convince you that he's legit.

As an actor, Grace has a style all his own which may or may not be intentional. He has an Anti-Brando method. He never changes his appearance or voice at all in his roles, but he has an earnest, open-faced, true-to-life and genuinely human way in every movie he so much as touches. Which explains why Hollywood keeps throwing mountains of scripts his way and why every movie he's in, he's given a nomination for something.

This is some of the best acting either Linney or Grace has ever done so far, pure and simple.

Gabriel Bryne, one of the finest actors in the world brings his trade-mark debonair and charisma in the role of Peter Harrington, Louise's ex-husband who's nasty habit primarily caused their divorce. There scenes that poke fun and make light of his "f-----g" habit are almost worth the rental price.

Which is why he takes home award after award for nearly every movie he does, because something about his whole appearance and personality makes it come across like he's just himself being himself, not an actor.

While "P.S." may just come across as a woman's picture (and it may well be), this isn't just a moody, sensitive, overly-emotional "chick-flick" to be seen on a "woman's day." This is a movie about some people who are seriously dealing with the trials of life at a turning point of age.

Paul Rudd, who been the key performance in some damn good movies, has basically just a little cameo, but as the estranged brother, he gives us further magnified scope into Louise's little life. He's a reformed junkie with a condescending, sadistic streak towards his big sis.

The movie has a deep, human, true-to-life atmosphere all throughout. There's nary a moment that is written or executed in a way that feels contrived. Nothing in "P.S." needs willing suspension of disbelief. Everything feels so beautiful and natural as the falling of the rain.

I've read an endless number of reviews for this movie which charge Dylan Kidd with making a picture less impressive than his previous effort. Ah, the sophomore jinx. I didn't see his freshman effort, "Roger Dodger," so I'm not particularly biased. And anyway, shouldn't a film be judged solely on it's own merits? Even Steven Spielberg made "Always," "Hook" and "1941."

Listen folks, seriously, so many filmmakers are accused being cursed with the dreaded "sophomore jinx" because when it comes to art, there are people who rate novelty above all else.

Movies like "Birth and "Return To Me" have tackled this subject before, but here it feels so legitimate. Like "Rocky," this one makes us believe clichés can happen... and make us care.


by Dane Youssef

I enjoyed this film a lot - it made me cry and laugh and gave me a few things to think about. I found it to be quite fast paced and the characters were all intriguing (well, except one, but more about that later).

Laura Linney is wonderful playing Louise, a divorced college admissions officer in her late 30s, who meets a younger man (F.Scott, in his early 20s) who has the same name and characteristics as a young lover of hers who died in a car accident many years before. The film explores the relationship between Louise and F.Scott. The relationship between the two was interesting and entertaining, but I couldn't help wishing they'd got to know each other a bit better. Instead, they have sex about an hour after meeting, so it's difficult to see if they really are compatible or there is something special between them.

I especially enjoyed the relationship between Louise and her ex-husband Peter, played by Gabriel Byrne. I recently saw Linney and Byrne playing a wife / husband couple in the film Jindabyne, and they work really well together and seem very natural. Peter is a reformed sex addict who has been getting help from Louise's brother Sammy, himself a reformed addict (a small role brilliantly [played by Paul Rudd). The relationships between Louise and Peter / Sammy and Louise's mother were very well done, and I liked the way they showed the bigger picture about Louise's life and how she relates to different people.

The one thing about the film I'm not really sold on is the character of Missy, Louise's best friend. She is very much a stereotypical character - think Gabrielle from Desperate Housewives. She is the typical sex-pot with really over-the-top voice, sexual innuendos and short skirts. Her character simply wasn't written with any depth. She was just about redeemed, however, but her penultimate scene with Louise when they both talk about the feelings they had for Scott 20 years ago.

Overall, I really enjoyed this film and thought it was a good character study. It's a romance and family drama rolled into one. It goes off on a tangent a few times, and certain things aren't explained at the end, but if you like subtle, thought-provoking films then this is definitely worth watching. And of course it's a must-see for Laura Linney fans - she carries the whole film and makes Louise a sympathetic and interesting character.

Normally when I watch a really good movie, I shut it off and feel like I know the whole story. In P.S., however, I still felt hungry for more-- character development, plot development, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, but unfortunately, they edited just a little too much and left out a lot of important scenes that delve deeper into the relationships of the six principle characters, but especially between Laura and Topher's characters. The movie is beautifully acted. No one plays disguised distress better than Laura Linney (see Primal Fear) and Topher Grace is a very gifted actor, not to mention very easy on the eyes. It's a wonderful romance movie for the big-hearted. But, if you're looking for deeper development, it's missing.

I got a free pass to see this just a few months and was excited about it by just the cast alone, and though it wasn't a bad movie it never quite delivered on the premise that it was promising.
The whole movie the main character dates a young kid (Topher Grace) that looks and acts like her dead lover. So the question is, Why? Is he reincarnated? Duping her? Stragely this question is never answered. We have some great acting in the movie and some good character interplay but that's about it.
I'd like to know if they cut some stuff out of the movie and took the conclusion with it or if they just had a script that never followed through.