the sinister fantasy of a shallow woman

Rating: 2/10 (31 January 2011)

one day, while touring Europe on a college gap year, our heroine meets hunky Irishman Gerry. Gerry is handsome, carefree, romantic and a little bit wild. yum. he falls in true love with her instantly, and after a whirlwind romance gives up his life in Ireland and follows her to America.they get married and after ten years, Gerry decides, not unreasonably, that they should have children. this bothers our heroine, because Gerry doesn't have much of a career (he only runs a limo driving business) and she doesn't feel like getting a job herself. why can't Gerry be a reckless, carefree dreamer AND rich ambitious go getter, its so unfair. a complicated future lies ahead.
then, conveniently, Gerry dies.
of a brain tumour. not that we get to see this, that would be painful and distressing, and make the films concerns, and most of its characters seem trite. it does though give Gerry time to devise the 'letters from the grave' scheme that drives the plot, and sort out her life for her. also, it means that she will be his ONE TRUE LOVE FOREVER.
as the film goes on, our heroine meets two other men. a smart, slightly nerdy but still handsome guy, who UNDERSTANDS her (and is besotted, of course) and a very hunky but considerate and undemanding shag. eventually, slightly nerdy guy realises they won't work physically, but will be her best and totally understanding friend FOREVER. Also, Gerrys marvellous 'letters from beyond the grave' scheme leads her to landing every girls dream career - designing beautiful shoes.
flashback, to when they first met, and our heroine expresses a vague desire to be artistic, but isn't sure how you go about it. she tries quoting Blake but doesn't remember it. "i must create my own system or be enslaved by another mans". does Blake's statement of artistic purity and integrity involve designing shoes? hmm, not sure about that, it means our heroine gets to be artistic (in a nice way) and everyone realises how deep and interesting she must be.
the end of the film sees her popping over to Ireland to reacquaint herself with the hunky shag. who, knows, perhaps his music career will take off and he'll be worth hanging onto.
best actors
1. Lisa kudrow 2. Kathy bates 3. the postman