P.S.

LOUISE IS A DIVROCED 30 SOMETHING ADMISSION'S OFFICER ATCOLUMBIA. WHEN A GRADUATE SCHOOL APPLICATION CROSSES HER DESK,SHE ARRANGES TO INTERVIEW THE YOUNG PAINTER. WHEN SCOTT APPEARS HE BEARS AN UNCANNY RESEMBLENCE TO LOUSE'S HIGH SCHOOL LOVE, AN ARTIST WHO DIED IN A CAR CRASH 20 YEARS EARLIER.

A May-December romance turns metaphysical in P.S., from the director of the critically acclaimed Roger Dodger. Louise (Laura Linney, You Can Count On Me, Kinsey) has a warm friendship with her ex-husband and a satisfying position as an admissions officer for Columbia University, but she's never gotten over losing her first love from high school. When a young man with the same name, face, and artistic talents (Topher Grace, Traffic) as her lost love suddenly arrives for an admissions interview, Louise tumbles into an abrupt and questionable relationship. P.S. is at its best when it follows the tics and foibles of human behavior; Linney and Grace both give vivid, lively performances. But every time reincarnation rears its head, the movie flounders, particularly in clumsy scenes with Louise's predatory best friend (Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River), who stole Louise's boy so long ago. Fortunately (or strangely), that element is almost a tacked-on subplot; center stage is the romance between Linney and Grace, which glows sweetly. Also featuring Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects, Miller's Crossing) and a woefully underused Paul Rudd (The Shape of Things, Clueless). --Bret Fetzer