P.S. I Love You, based on a novel by Cecelia Ahern, is a boring and saccharine drama starring Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler and Harry Connick Jr.  

Following the death of her husband from a brain tumor, Holly Kennedy (Swank) is shattered. In the days before he passed away, Gerry (Butler) wrote Holly several letters to be delivered to her after he died. Each letter was designed to help Holly overcome different stages of grief. Gerry’s goal involved getting Holly to use his letters to rediscover herself. He reminded Holly how much he loved her by ending each of these letters with the phrase “P.S. I Love You.”

Holly’s friends and family are concerned because she hasn’t left her apartment in weeks. They arrive on her doorstep unannounced on her 30th birthday to force her to celebrate. Holly refuses to do so until a delivery boy drops off a cake for her. She’s perplexed upon finding a cassette tape secured to the lid of the box. After thoroughly questioning her friends and family, Holly discovers nobody knows where the cake originated.

Listening top the tape, Holly is stunned to hear Gerry’s voice. He demands she go out with her best-friends Denise (Lisa Kudrow) and Sharon (Gina Gershon) to “celebrate herself.”  As Gerry’s voice trails off, he tells Swank to anticipate more correspondence which will arrive soon.

As Holly’s spirits soar with each new letter, her mother Patricia (Kathy Bates) keeps dreading the day these letters will stop. Patricia knows that she herself is incapable of helping Holly pick up the pieces after mourning Gerry all over again, for she still harbors  intense pain and animosity at Holly’s father for suddenly leaving her several decades earlier.

Holly uses Gerry’s letters to help herself take the first steps toward a new beginning without Gerry. Along the way, she meets Daniel (Harry Connick Jr.), the new bartender at her mother’s restaurant. Daniel takes an immediate interest in Holly after being introduced to her at Gerry’s wake. Holly likes Daniel because he’s uninhibited and always states his opinion, even in situations where he knows he shouldn’t. Holly feels safe with him, mostly because she knows Daniel will never talk about Gerry as he never met him.  

After Gerry’s latest letter requests her to meet his family and come back to the place where they first me, Holly travels to Ireland with Sharon and Denise. She’s instantly drawn to William (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a performer at the Irish pub where Gerry first serenaded her. Holly and William are both unaware of each other’s strong connection to Gerry.

The screenplay by writer/director Richard LaGravense and Steven Rogers seems poorly written. We never learn the great lengths Gerry must have gone to in order to make his plan work. Also, unfortunately, Swank and Butler appear unconvincing as lovers -- let alone soul-mates -- in the few scenes they have together. And Bates looks uncomfortable as Swank’s mother. However, Connick Jr. stands out for his spirited portrayal of Daniel. But neither he nor the movie’s stellar ensemble can save P.S. I Love You. .

(Released by Warner Bros. and rated “PG-13” for sexual references and brief nudity.)