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Review: 'P.S.,' it's an OK film
« on: Oct 22nd, 2004, 7:36pm » |
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Review: 'P.S.,' it's an OK film
Acting is terrific in lukewarm book adaptation
By Christy Lemire
Associated Press
Friday, October 15, 2004 Posted: 3:59 PM EDT (1959 GMT)
(AP) -- We already knew that the lovely Laura Linney could do anything -- drama ("You Can Count On Me"), tragedy ("Mystic River"), comedy ("Love Actually") -- all with seemingly effortless nuance.
But her co-star in "P.S.," Topher Grace, proves himself surprisingly versatile, as well, and more than capable of establishing himself as a leading man long after "That '70s Show" enters the '80s.
Watching their unexpected chemistry in this adaptation of Helen Schulman's novel of the same name makes you wish for a better movie -- one that doesn't dally with the idea of a dead boyfriend coming back to life 20 years later, one that doesn't awkwardly insert a competitive best friend into the romantic mix (even if she is played by Marcia Gay Harden in margarita-swilling, desperate-housewife mode).
The second film from writer-director Dylan Kidd is as wistful as his first, "Roger Dodger," was nihilistic, and just as full of sharp dialogue.
Linney's Louise Harrington, admissions director at Columbia University's School of Fine Arts, seems at first to be having an affair with the professor (Gabriel Byrne) she shares a rooftop lunch with at the film's start. Then she mentions their marriage and you think they're husband and wife. Then you realize they're divorced, but still close friends who talk candidly, and with a hint of flirtation.
Louise is clearly ready to fall in love again, though, so when she receives an application from a painter named F. Scott Feinstadt (Grace), she freaks. Scott Feinstadt was the name of her boyfriend who died two decades earlier in a car crash. He was a painter, too. And when she calls this young man to schedule an interview, he sounds just like her lost love.
Once they meet -- and he looks just like the Scott Feinstadt she knew -- it doesn't take her long to bring him back to her apartment for some red wine and a romp on the couch. This makes the encounter sound tawdry, but it actually has a tangible tension, especially as F. Scott lightly caresses Louise's neck and chest before their first breathless kiss.
Besides, who could blame her? He's Topher Grace, a total cutie. And the magnetic self-assuredness he displayed only briefly in "Traffic" is in full bloom here.
He gets to be playful and quick-witted but also vulnerable, as his character finds he's totally into Louise, too. "I know what you're thinking," says F. Scott, who's 15 years her junior. "You're thinking that I'm too young for you."
And if the movie had just been about their relationship, and how it allows Louise to discover herself again -- which Linney conveys luminously and with great range -- we would have been just fine. But then her best friend, Missy (Harden), breezes in from California and, upon meeting the new Scott, insists he could be the old Scott. Even though she's a married mother of twins, she goes after him with the unabashed enthusiasm of a drunk sorority girl.
Further compounding troubles for Louise -- and "P.S." -- her ex-husband the college professor makes a startling confession to her about his sex life. Here's where the movie goes irreparably wrong -- but, like the old Louise and Scott (and the new Louise and Scott), it was good while it lasted.
"P.S.," a Newmarket Films release, is rated R for language and sexuality.
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