P.S. 2004

Critics score:
55 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Despite an excellent supporting cast something in p.s. goes mushy and implausible. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Can't seem to make up its mind whether it's a romantic comedy, a drama or a psychological thriller and settles for being an odd -- and unbelievable -- hybrid of all three. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: Goes disappointingly soft despite two dynamite lead performances. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: We have a talented director, and a wonderful cast -- but for me this is a near-miss. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Contains more than its share of implausibilities and absurdities -- and let's not even imagine the reception the movie would get if the genders were reversed -- but if it's not Linney's finest role, it contains some of her nerviest work. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Deliciously perverse and nutty throughout. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The movie implodes, with each actor less vivid than he or she ought to be and each character less connected to the others than necessary for such an arbitrary plot. Read more

Dallas Morning News: Read more

Elizabeth Kerr, Hollywood Reporter: Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: This sappy stuff gets better direction by Kidd (who made the far superior Roger Dodger) than it deserves. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: The movie can't find its center, but Linney nails hers. She alone makes this worth a night out of your life. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's a depressing sign of these Botoxed times that we're not meant to question the fact that the ravishing Laura Linney, playing a 39-year-old admissions officer in Columbia's fine-arts department, is over the hill. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: A movie that is wonderfully idiosyncratic, yet frustratingly misguided on occasion. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: I haven't read the novel, so I can't say whether the author was more successful at making Louise's obsession plausible. It's certainly not believable in the movie. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Too many questions go unanswered in P.S., too many issues left unexplored. But Laura Linney's rueful awakening from middle-aged slumber and Topher Grace's balancing act between boyish lust and grownup integrity are irresistible. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: What a string of contrived coincidences. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Directed by Dylan Kidd, who showed some filmmaking promise a few years ago with Roger Dodger, P.S. is would-be romance etched in acid and loathing. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Linney directs her scenes from within them, holding our attention and keeping the focus on her confusion, her pain and her hope. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The result is an intriguing and satisfying romance that may hold some appeal even for those who normally do not like films about affairs of the heart. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Both genders are programmed by eons of Darwinian genetic strategy, and so we believe them, and because Linney and Grace are sexy and play well together, the age gap is not a barrier so much as additional seasoning. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Start the Oscar buzz now for the dependably superb Laura Linney, who brings beauty and a tough core of intelligence and wit to the role of New Yorker Louise Harrington, an admissions officer at Columbia's graduate school of fine arts. Read more

Rebecca Caldwell, Globe and Mail: The screenplay, adapted by both Kidd and Schulman, apparently leaves out much of the book's biting black humour. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Linney and Grace play off one another beautifully, her reticent better judgment collapsing in equal proportion to his ironic detachment. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Ben Walters, Time Out: Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Linney remains a full-blooded character so memorable that she's worth watching -- even in a less-than-memorable movie. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: Kidd's movie staggers around as if its own story was some bad brown acid it had foolishly ingested. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: The movie's extraordinary for its two main performances. Read more

Teresa Wiltz, Washington Post: Somehow, wondrous acting holds things together, particularly that of Linney and Grace. Read more