The problem inherent to the story of P.S. I Love You is that the movie is always bordering on the maudlin. The problem with the structure is that the movie crosses over to it too much. On its primary level, the movie is about a grieving widow, but it's also a romantic comedy. It's not just a romantic comedy based on her friends finding love and her discovering that life might go on with one of two men who enter her life after her husband's untimely death, but it's also, strangely, one that takes the relationship with the already-dead husband and turns it into a flashback-strewn, demented-imagining-heavy (or otherworldly-visitation-sprinkled) romantic comedy as well.

This is where it gets not just maudlin but also occasionally morbid. It starts with an overly happy couple, and in the next scene, they are already separated by death. When the dead husband returns in dreams and flashbacks, it undermines the harsh reality of the central story (here one moment, gone the next) by turning it into a cutesy, weepy stack of romantic interludes. In spite of this major problem, P.S. I Love You isn't bad. The movie's performances and sometimes-unconventional turns in formula are somewhat charming.

The happy couple is Holly (Hilary Swank) and Gerry Kennedy (Gerard Butler). The movie starts where most relationships end with a fight between the two. This is a good scene on its own. The fight feels fluid, we can sense two passionate people standing their ground, and it's actually about something. Here, Gerry wants a baby, but Holly doesn't think it's the right time in their relationship. They make up, and in the next scene, Holly is attending Gerry's memorial service at her mother Patricia's (Kathy Bates) bar. Her friends Denise (Lisa Kudrow), Sharon (Gina Gershon), Sharon's husband John (James Marsters), and an assortment of other folks, like Patricia's bartender Daniel (Harry Connick Jr.), are in attendance.

This is also a good scene. The priest tells everyone that Gerry would have wanted people to celebrate, not mourn, and to prove it, he puts on Gerry's favorite, bawdy song. Four weeks go by, and Holly has isolated herself from the world in her apartment, calling Gerry's phone to hear his voice on the voice mail, watching old movies, and imaging Gerry with her. Her mother and friends witness some of this when they come over for Holly's 30th birthday party, where she receives a cake and a letter from Gerry.