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Hilary Swank is a young widow haunted by her dead husband in this sentimental romantic comedy. New Yorker Holly is stunned when she starts receiving letters from Gerry (Gerard Butler). It turns out he wrote them before he died and has arranged for them to be delivered throughout the year. Thanks to Gerry's missives, Holly learns to get out of the house and get on with life in this soppy but sweet tear-jerker.

There's nothing like a 'love beyond the grave' theme to bring on the waterworks - just look at Ghost - so if you're the romantic type, PS I Love You is guaranteed to give your hanky a good work out. After a slightly awkward opening scene featuring the couple bickering and making up, the film delivers an emotional funeral that's all the more touching for being set in a bar, where each mourner downs a shot for the deceased (he was Irish, although you wouldn't always know that from Gerard Butler's accent).

"MAINSTREAM SENTIMENTALITY"

Quirky moments like this offset the film's otherwise predictable narrative and mainstream sentimentality. Lisa Kudrow and Harry Connick, Jr add comic bite as Holly's straight-talking friends, the latter so straight-talking he has to take pills for it. Chirpy Swank is likely to divide audiences with her toothy turn as needy Holly, but she's an efficient actress as ever and has decent chemistry with Butler in the flashback scenes. But men, be warned: while many a romantic comedy can be enjoyed by both sexes, this really isn't one of them.

PS I Love You is out in the UK on 4th January 2008.