Review: P.S.

The film’s shift in hysteria wouldn’t be so bad if Dylan Kidd treated coincidence as a form of abstract art.

P.S.
Photo: Newmarket Films

Louise Harrington (Laura Linney) works in the admission’s department at Columbia University. When the divorced thirtysomething gets an application from an emo-type in Rhode Island, she’s reminded of an old boyfriend who died in a horrible car accident. The similarities are incredible: both are named Scott Feinstadt, both like to paint, and both look like Topher Grace. A colleague rightfully refers to Dylan Kidd’s P.S. as a straight version of Birth. The film begins promisingly as a mystical intersection of past and present: In the Grace’s artwork, Kidd evokes a possible transference of spirits, and it’s the return of the living dead that allows Louise to sort through the baggage of her semi-damaged life, which includes an ex-husband (Gabriel Byrne) who’s a sex addict and a brother (Paul Rudd) who likes pie. Mannered as usual, Linney’s performance is nonetheless a graceful evocation of midlife crisis. And though Kidd’s direction is by and large inert, at least compared to his work in Roger Dodger, he manages a few lovely scenarios, especially a scene at a pool hall where Louise begins to act like a jealous schoolgirl. But after an hour or so, Kidd seemingly takes a cue from his lead character when she says something to the effect that the story’s mysticism is too much for her. It’s here that Marcia Gay Harden enters screen and P.S. turns into Desperate Housewives. From mystical to trashy, the film’s shift in hysteria wouldn’t be so bad if Kidd treated coincidence as a form of abstract art or took the desires of his female characters a little more seriously.

Score: 
 Cast: Laura Linney, Topher Grace, Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Paul Rudd, Lois Smith, Ross A. McIntyre  Director: Dylan Kidd  Screenwriter: Dylan Kidd  Distributor: Newmarket Films  Running Time: 90 min  Rating: NR  Year: 2004  Buy: Video, Soundtrack

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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