Definitely a classic

Rating: 10/10 (26 May 2018)

I just had to write this 11 years after its release: So, maybe... being a woman, in the midst of all the "attempts" at romantic movies because, let's face it, there just aren't enough of them, you really have to acknowledge the films that you are most assuredly going to have in your DVD collection. This is one of them. I never tire of it. Why oh why doesn't the movie industry understand that there is a whole world of single women out there, of all ages, maneuvering through this crazy world of relationships? And that makes for a genre that will ALWAYS be supported. Make them good, make them relatable, and figure out how to present a truly romantic moment, or moments. Where, you can put the film in, go about your business, but you stop everything, when you say to yourself, "this is my favorite part!" - and you watch it...all the way through, every time. This movie has that, trust me. The best Romantic Movie Paradigm includes two opposites (don't get me started on THE BEST romantic movie of all time: The Way We Were), the seeming "impossibility" of the union, the presentation of obstacles that prove the impossibility, only to finally have love win out in the end. That's it. Why PSILY does it so well is the great acting - Kathy friggin Bates, come on! Swank is lovely, neurotic, and wonderful. Gerard Butler is so delicious you wonder why he didn't do more of this genre (hint to GB: do another one, watch Our Souls At Night, for instance). THE GIRLFRIENDS, Gershon and Kudrow. I have these girlfriends, that's how believable they are. And the magnificently underrated Harry Connick Jr. (we need to see more of him in films, PLEASE). The believability of being loved and never truly appreciating it while you have it, understanding that you were worrying about all the wrong things- who hasn't felt that? And the fact that a dead character can be so alive throughout the film reminds you why she's going through all of this in the first place. Did they know when they made this film that it would be so deeply loved, so many years later? I for one, am glad they did.