blanche-2 One of our finest actresses who has never made it to superstardom, Laura Linney, stars in P.S. from 2004, also starring Topher Grace, Brad Renfro, Gabriel Byrne, Lois Smith, and Marcia Gay Harden.Linney plays Louise Harrington, the admissions director for Columbia Art School. She's divorced from Peter Harrington (Byrne), but they parted friends and get together for dinner weekly. In high school, Louise fell in love with one F. Scott Feinstadt, who died in a car accident. He seems to have been the love of her life.When one F. Scott Feinstadt applies for admission to the school, she is shocked and calls him. It's her old boyfriend's voice. She sets up an interview and when he shows up, he looks just like her F. Scott. It's quite an interview - they wind up having sex in her apartment. They are incredibly attractive to one another, and the age difference doesn't seem to matter.Louise's ex-husband hits her with a brutal admission, and not only that, she learns that her brother Sam (Renfro) knew about it and never told her. She feels betrayed and hurt. Then her best friend Missy (Harden) hears Scott on the phone and is immediately intrigued. Who is this guy? Is it Scott reincarnated, some long lost relative, or just an odd coincidence?I wouldn't have rented this except that I saw a trailer for it on another DVD. It's a very sweet film, with wonderful performances by all involved. Marcia Gay Harden is one of my favorites, and she's just perfect as a wife and mother who wants adventure.Lovely film, excellent cast.

sol1218 **SPOILERS** Very similar to the back from the dead, through reincarnation, movie released around the same time "Birth" the made for TV movie "P.S" has to do with someone who died some twenty years ago coming back to re-start his love affair with not just one but two lovers. The strange thing about all this is that the long "dead person" now in his early twenties and a student at New York's Colombia University is, unlike in the movie "Birth", the very last person in the movie to figure this all out!It's chief of student admissions at Columbia Louise Harrington, Laura Linney, who first notices the what seems like re-born F. Scott Feinstadt, Topher Grace, when he called her for an interview to be accepted in the collage's prestigious art program. With her eyes bulging out of their sockets Louise realizes that Scott is the carbon-copy of her long dead lover from high-school who shares the very same name, first & last, with him. Poor and totally confused Scott who's only looking to get accepted in the collage's art class ends up being seduced and ravaged, which in fact he's anything but against, by the sex starved Louise within hours after his interview with her!To make things even more interesting we also have Louise's ex-husband Peter, Gabriel Byrne, pop up and after thinking things over with her suddenly admits that he's been having an affair behind her back! This with Peter being divorced from Louise and thus being free do do, in regards with his sex life, anything he want's! The real kicker to Peter's heart felt confession to Louise is that he's hopelessly addicted to sex and had been having hundreds of affairs while he was still married to her with, in him being a collage professor, his both female as well as male student's! Shocked at Peter's infidelity Louise is left speechless and thus gravities back to Scott, who hasn't a clue to what's going on, to continue her hot and heavy affair with him.Things reach explosive levels in the movie when Louise's friend from high-school and rival for the late Scott's affections Missy Goldberg, Marcia Gay Barden, gets in touch with her and tells a stunned Louise that she in fact knows that Scott as come back from the dead and has also, like Louise, restarted her affair with him! On top of all that sex addicted Peter also finds out that Louise, who's not married to him, is having an affair with another man-Scott-which almost leads the two to square off at each other!***SPOILERS*** The ending of this very confusing movie leaves a lot of loose ends in regards to Scott's relationship with both Lousie and Missy but by then you've been through so many sub-plots to what it's, the Scott Louise & Missy connection, all about that both you and Scott are by then ready to forget about the whole damn thing! About the best thing that happens in the movie is in the end is that Scott is finally accepted into Colombia University's exclusive art school, which is all that he wanted in the first place, on the strength of what looked like six grainy and out of focus slides of his art works. But as we see Scott wouldn't have made it without Louise, who's still hopefully infatuated with the young man, pulling a few strings in his favor.

jotix100 Imagine the shock Louise Harrington, a professor at Columbia University gets upon receiving a letter from a student applicant whose name is the same as her old boyfriend, who died in a tragic car accident years ago. Little prepares her for the way Scott, a young man that shows promise, will shake her up and awakens a passion she didn't know she had inside her.Louise has been divorced from Peter, another Columbia professor, and in their last few years together had no sex together. Peter confesses to his ex-wife he is addicted to sex. Louise had no inkling about Peter's sexual life. He has had many encounters, mainly with students, women and men, as he doesn't discriminate who he takes to bed.Scott sweeps Louise off her feet and awakens in her a newly discovered passion she didn't know she had in her. This relationship is threatened when Missy Goldberg, Louise best friend and confidante, comes into town because she suspects her friend is having a mad affair with the younger man. They have both been in love with the old boyfriend who had died tragically. Missy, in fact, has always envied Louise, something that comes clear in a final confrontation at the end of the film."P.S." was directed and adapted by Dylan Kidd, an interesting director whose "Roger Dodger" made him known to film fans. The novel in which the film is based was written by Helen Schulman, but not having read it, we can't make any comparisons, although Mr. Kidd's adaptation flows easily as a movie.The best thing in "P.S." is Laura Linney. This actress projects such intelligence and radiates charm in everything she plays. We can't imagine anyone else in this part. Ms. Linney's contribution to the success of the film is invaluable. Topher Grace is also good as Scott, the student that knows exactly what he is getting into and awakens Louise into a passion she didn't know she had. Gabriel Byrne is seen as Peter, the ex-husband. Marcia Gay Harden makes a short appearance into one of the best thing in the film as the friend that has everything, yet has always envied Louise. Lois Smith and Paul Rudd have minor roles."P.S." is an adult film that makes us think because Dylan Kidd doesn't compromise with the story and because he knows how to present this tale about adult people going through painful situations and discovering things about themselves.

Scoval71 Great acting by all, especially the talented and pretty Laura Linney. But the plot is so far fetched, it is ridiculous. I cannot get on the bandwagon with the majority of the reviewers who wholly praise this movie on this site. I just think it is a silly, unrealistic film that is somewhat confusing and just makes no sense. Laura Linney's character seems to finally mature at 39 years old at the end thanks to her affair with a man who reminds her in many ways of her first long ago dead love. Topher Grace does a fine job and is mature beyond his years in this film trying to get Linney's character back to earth. I say again the acting is superior, but the story just did not sit well with me.