» See the trailer

Hilary Swank is a rubbish actress. Or at least an actress who makes rubbish choices. The two Oscars might tell a different story, but just look beyond her award-winning performances in 'Boys Don’t Cry' and 'Million Dollar Baby'. You're left with drivel like her sexy-as-snoek femme fatale in Brian De Palma's potboiler 'The Black Dahlia'. Or the college professor fighting off Biblical proportions of plagues and schlocky special effects in 'The Reaping'. And who can forget 'The Core', where she must drill to the centre of the earth and set off some nuclear explosions to, you know, restart the rotation of the earth's core? As one does.

Temporarily done with saving the world — or waiting for the Academy to call again — she's now turned her hand to romantic comedy for the first time. Which, again, might not be the best decision for someone who was actually written out of 'Beverley Hills 90210' and has the habit of looking uncomfortable in any part that requires a hint of sexiness.

But while 'P.S. I Love You' might not add to her golden statuette collection — and suffers a little from Swank's hard edge — it's certainly not as bland and clichéd as the title suggests. Ripping the heart out of a few romcom conventions, it begins with Gerry and Holly Kennedy having a flaming row. He (played by Gerard '300' Butler) dislikes her lack of spontaneity and perpetual unhappiness. She (Swank, of course) hates that he doesn’t have a Plan for their life, that he's not responsible enough. They argue for a good ten minutes.

And then things get bad. He dies.

But not before writing a series of letters that arrive in her mailbox at regular intervals. Pep talks from the afterlife — that, yes, all end with "P.S. I love you" — they help Holly get over the grief of losing her Irish husband and, ultimately, give her a kick in the arse to get on with life. More importantly, though, they allow for huge coincidences as well as flashback scenes showing how the two met in Ireland, fell in love, and made beautiful karaoke music together. (Butler gets all "This is Sparta!" over 'Mustang Sally'.)

Throw in a few "why me?" self-pity scenes, some "get over it" tough love from Holly's no-nonsense mom (Kathy Bates), and an unexpected twist to the central romance, and it all starts to sound more like an episode of 'Dr Phil' than a heart-warming comedy. Which is where the sidekicks come in. Providing the sitcom punchlines, kooky best friend Lisa Kudrow is Phoebe from 'Friends' aged 35, while disarmingly honest charmer Harry Connick Jr. has walked right off the set of 'Will & Grace'.

They lighten the mood somewhat but can't quite mask the film's heart of stone: oh-so-serious Swank. She's a good sobbing/angry/bitchy widow but useless at the romance and light comedy that are sort of important in light romantic comedies.

PS. I love you, Hilary, but not your movies.