Film

Is it just us, or is there something kind of icky and patronizing about the premise of this film? A dying man arranges the delivery of a series of letters to his wife after his death so that he can teach her to go on without him. And of course, the lessons she needs to learn are “love again” and “find your dreams and pursue them” and other feel-good pablum.

Irish charmer Gerry (Butler) comes from the “live, laugh, love” school of philosophy. His American wife, Holly (Swank), is more of a worrier, wondering how they’ll ever afford to have children or own a place. So when a brain tumor removes Gerry from the picture (except, of course, in dream sequences and flashbacks), Holly gets stuck in grief until the letters start arriving, advising her to do things like sing karaoke, take a trip to Ireland to revisit the site of their first meeting and, you know, live, laugh, love. LaGravenese treats the material with the gloss of tears and gentle laughs you might expect.

There are glimmers of something spikier and smarter in the supporting roles. Connick has fun as a bartender who says pretty much whatever comes into his head, no matter how stupid or offensive. Kudrow does what she can with the best-friend role. But LaGravenese seems to aim for something in the Nicholas Sparks line (Message in a Bottle, The Notebook). He hits his target, but that’s nothing to brag about.