New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

48 21
80 Band's Visit, The
69 Bank Job, The
64 Chronicle of an Escape
46 CJ7
36 College Road Trip
68 Cool School, The
78 Counterfeiters, The
35 Deal
51 Doomsday
58 Felon
59 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
57 Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55 Irina Palm
69 Last Winter, The
38 Life Before Her Eyes, The
30 Meet Bill
33 Miss Conception
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
39 Never Back Down
55 Nim's Island
48 Penelope
22 Postal
17 Prom Night
77 Rape of Europa, The
69 Redbelt
xx Rogue
76 Shine a Light
37 Shutter
57 Smart People
50 Step Up 2 the Streets
55 Street Kings
72 Surfwise
55 Turn the River
36 What Happens in Vegas...
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
55 Without the King
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

P.S.
Newmarket Film Group


5.3

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Roger Dodger

MPAA RATING: R for language and sexuality

Starring Laura Linney, Topher Grace, Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Paul Rudd, and Lois Smith

The story of a thirtysomething given a second chance at first love. (Newmarket Films)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Fantasy \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Dylan Kidd Helen Schulman (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Dylan Kidd
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 8, 2005 Theatrical: October 15, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	97 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Ultimately, p.s. confirms Kidd's talent without expanding it or achieving the comic/dramatic heights of "Roger Dodger."

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Even though the story ultimately doesn't match the intensity with which it began, the movie's extraordinary for its two main performances.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Fascinating because it require us to see the younger character through two sets of eyes -- our own, which witness an attractive woman drawn to a younger male, and the women's, which see a lost love in a new container.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

P.S., adapted from Helen Schulman's novel, is Linney's show, and she makes it hilarious and haunting.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

An intriguing and satisfying romance that may hold some appeal even for those who normally do not like films about affairs of the heart.

Premiere Peter Debruge

Director Dylan Kidd sneaks some pretty profound observations about love and life by us.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The offbeat screenplay turns even the corny bits in unpredictable directions, and it's rare indeed to see such consistently superb ensemble acting.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Once you get beyond the absurdity of the premise, it works.

Washington Post Teresa Wiltz

Somehow, wondrous acting holds things together.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

There is still plenty to like about p.s. , including its smart humor and its surprising ability to absorb.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Wanders off on story tangents that can't be called anything other than bizarre, but nevertheless oddly engages.

USA Today Mike Clark

Linney remains a full-blooded character so memorable that she's worth watching - even in a less-than-memorable movie.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A meticulously rendered romantic drama, very well acted and featuring solid production values and location work that makes New York feel like one of the movie's characters. The only problem is the story is rather flat.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

The question of whether this is a movie about reincarnation or fate or middle-aged delusion remains unaddressed far beyond our capacity to care. Many of the admirably long conversational scenes are pointless; some, like Harden and Linney's climactic bitch-fest in a hotel room, are flat-out absurd.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The film is based on the novel by Helen Schulman, who co-wrote the script with Kidd, and it suffers from the same hobbling that bedevils so many literary adaptations; namely, that what strikes a reader as a conceit of some delicacy will strike a moviegoer as clunking whimsy.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

While not dwelling on plot eventually gets P.S. in trouble during the slack finale, it gives Linney and Grace plenty of room to maneuver.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Laura Linney’s beautiful performance is most of the story in p.s.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

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.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

This sappy stuff gets better direction by Kidd (who made the far superior Roger Dodger) than it deserves, and Linney gives a wonderfully wistful portrayal of urban loneliness.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

All movies require suspension of disbelief to a certain degree, but p.s. really pushes the envelope.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Goes disappointingly soft despite two dynamite lead performances.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Grace fares better than Linney, and both escape with more dignity than Harden, whose blowsy, wanton Missy is a coarse, soap-opera caricature of a suburban hoyden.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Its premise had me worn out by the second reel.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rebecca Caldwell

P.S.'s ending, a cautiously happy conclusion, feels like an afterthought.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Contains more than its share of implausibilities and absurdities.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Maudlin.

Chicago Reader Richard M. Porton

Even the always radiant Linney can't save this misbegotten film.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

What's disheartening is that an actress as fine as Ms. Linney has to endure the indignity of such excremental nonsense.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a7:
In one of the deleted scenes, we can see that Louise(Laura Linney) has no input when it comes to who the selection committee admits into their art program. She stays out of the room. What's in the movie works better because the happy ending makes us a little uncomfortable. "P.S." is at its best when Louise and F. Scott(Topher Grace) are feeling each out. There's also a pretty hillarious scene that involves Linney with Gabriel Byrne(playing her ex) because his confession, albeit heartfelt and sincere, is nonetheless, self-indulgent and smarmy. But "P.S." loses its steam when it turns into a high school drama between Louise and her best friend Missy(Marcia Gay Harden).

T. M. gave it a3:
How did they rope Linney, Grace, Harden, and Byrne into this misbegotten mess? Linney and Grace outshone their material (though some of their conversations were well-written), but the movie never explains why his character had the same name, face, and talent as her dead lover. Also, her character's behavior when deciding to interview him and in the interview were too unbelievable even for a work of fiction. It's a wonder Columbia U. hasn't sued. This is the type of movie in which you wonder if anyone really watched the finished product before it was realeased, and if they did watch it they were either smoking crack or knew you can put anything out and someone will go see it.

Mike M. gave it a 6:
Good start, Good performances but as the reviews say on here, it never leads anywhere and lots of questions are never answered; first and formost, why does this guy look and act like the main character's dead boyfriend????

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

P.S. Newmarket Film Group

P.S.
Newmarket Film Group