Though, I didn't read the book written by Cecelia Ahern, I'd been wanting to see P.S. I Love You since I first saw a preview for the movie based on it. I believe I cried during the four minute trailer, probably laughed, too…and the movie was just more of the same only longer; a virtual bi-polar experience.

Hilary Swank plays Holly Kennedy, the responsible one. Gerard Butler is her husband, Gerry, the one who makes life fun--yes, that dance was fun! When Gerry dies, Holly stays in her apartment listening to his voice on the answering machine, wearing his clothes and watching old movies while the dirty dishes pile high. But, a message from the proverbial grave on her 30th birthday lures her back to the land of the living. In these letters that arrive mysteriously from her dead husband, Holly finds a reason to live. She hesitantly follows the directions Gerry puts forth, believing that her obedience will encourage the letters to continue. They do.

Although, Gerry dies within minutes of the film's beginning, he's truly the life of this movie. Not only do we feel his presence in the letters, but flashbacks give us a view of the life he and his wife shared. It's one of those romances we all crave…where even the arguments are cute and end up with make-up sex. sigh My next husband will come with a script!

Anyway, the letters remind Holly of Gerry's love--always ending with P.S. I love you--as they also remind her how to live. Each letter tells her to do something; buy a sexy dress, sing karaoke, go fishing, go to Ireland…and finally…move on.

Holly has the support of her friends (played by Lisa Kudrow and Gina Gershon) as she carries out the orders in these letters; only her mother (Kathy Bates) seems to believe they are doing more harm than good. Patricia feels that she and her daughter have something in common due to the abandonment--one by choice, one by death--of their respective husbands. Patricia wants Holly to move on with her life, but you get the feeling that Patricia was never able to do what she so adamantly wants her daughter to do.

Harry Connick, Jr. plays Daniel, a bartender in Patricia's small pub, whose feelings for Holly are no secret. He patiently waits for Holly to overcome the death of her husband. But, moving on creates even more conflict for Holly, knowing that as she does so, she leaves Gerry further and further behind, though he never seems to be very far away. A chance encounter--of the physical sort--with a man she meets in Ireland (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan of Grey's Anatomy) turns out to be an old friend and bandmate of his. Too close for comfort…until he--William--shares tales of his childhood friend and they form a bond.

It's not until Holly's friends start moving on with their lives that she realizes how stunted hers has become. A flashback of the first time they met and the message from Gerry telling Holly that he "doesn't worry about your remembering me, I worry about your remembering yourself" forces Holly to find the passion she lost being the responsible one.

Becoming even more confused when she fails to move on after discovering a creative passion, she runs into the arms of her mother as we watch her reach for that final stage of grief, a stage we realize her mother has yet to reach. The two find solace and a bond that we know will be to both of their benefit.

This movie is so much less about dying and/or the dealing with the death of a loved one and so much more about living; as Holly finally learns, "This is my one and only life, and it is a great and terrible and short and endless thing, and none of us come out of it alive."

Dear Indy.com,

Take your wife, your husband, your mom, your friends and your tissues to this movie that will make you laugh…and cry.

Sincerely, Dawn

P.S. I loved it!