This is a drama comedy that actually worked for me. The first scene was to show us how much Holly and Gerry loved each other, but it showed it in an unconventional way: the film starts with them fighting.
This just the first in a series of unconventional decisions for this story, which is one of the things I liked about it. Of course the fight ends with them making up, but we get to know so much about them in that one scene.
From then on we see Holly dealing with her loss in her way, but then Gerry’s letters start coming. He planned a series of letters to be delivered slowly, to help Holly to go on with her life without Gerry.
Each letter comes with a different task for Holly, and the corresponding memories. I don’t want to spoil everything, but there is plenty of nice and funny moments, amist the pain Holly is suffering.
The letters are nice, but sometimes they pushed it too far, into “movie” territory. For example, a letter seems to have helped Holly find her “thing” in life, even though she’d been trying 10 years before that. How come the real Gerry couldn’t help her then?
The reveal of how the letters were sent was a nice surprise, as was the resolution of Holly and Daniel’s relationship. Again, unconventional decisions.
I must admit I enjoyed this movie more than I would like to admit, it was very affecting, so much so that my wife couldn’t sleep that night.
Rating: 3.5 Stars