Moving beyond grief with love...

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2007)

When I read the book last summer, I wasn't too impressed with the depth of the characters presented, but the concept of a dying person encouraging their loved one to move beyond their grief though the use of letters written before death intrigued me. It could have been morbid,but who better to push the one left behind to begin to live life again but the person who knows them best?
Much has been said about Hilary Swank playing the grieving widow, but I found her quite believable in her grief. She represents all the ordinary people out there and I found myself appreciating her acting.
I appreciated the writing as well. I am one of those who believes this movie is better than the book. To me, the movie was more true to life.
In the end, I rate a movie based on how much it gets me to "feel" with the characters. In this case, I laughed out loud and I sobbed. And then, I would laugh again. I did care about these people and all the actors were naturals for their parts. 3 different men you couldn't imagine and the 3 women also were perfectly cast. I think Gerry Butler stood out as the most versatile actor of the 3.
The movie wasn't too long nor too short. However, I did run out of Kleenex in the end.
I give the movie a 9 out of 10 as near perfection- a romantic comedy with an underlying theme of overcoming grief- good stuff.