I haven’t seen the movie and I won’t, because I hated the book. In fact, the only thing that was good about the book was the ending (although the ending wasn’t good enough to erase the badness of the rest of the book).
So my request is for those who’ve seen the movie: does it follow the ending of the book, or did they Hollywood-ize the ending?
For those who don’t know, the book ends with the heroine, Holly, basically telling all the men in her life to leave her alone because she’s not ready for a relationship. Which is true, because she’s an immature psycho nut case. (I initially gave her a pass, due to the whole brain tumor thing, but at some point you’ve got to stop riding that pony, you know?)
If you’ve seen the movie, please spoil it for me – how does it end?
P.S. Yes, I know I should stop reading this type of stuff because it makes me insane. But when you go to Borders, and they have that table of “3 books for $10” and you find two you want, and you need a third because you’re a lemming and the sign said “3 books for $10” not “2 books for less than $10,” what are you supposed to do?
I haven’t read the book and would have no desire to, but I took my girlfriend to the movie (her idea, not mine), and the ending is very different. Basically,
Holly goes to Ireland again and brings her mom, meets the handsome musician she slept with on her first trip to Ireland with her friends (the guy who turned out to be dead husband’s old bandmate and buddy), and her mom flirts with HIS father, who happens to be with him. You get the impression mother and daughter are going to end up with father and son and live happily ever after, perhaps in Ireland.
Being a guy, I definitely wasn’t the target audience for this movie, but while I’ve enjoyed some rom-coms and chick flicks, this wasn’t really one of them. To me, it had a warped view of relationships, how they fought like crazy over stupid stuff in the opening scene because she loved drama and being the center of attention, but then when he was dead, it was the best of both worlds for her. He was thoughtful and romantic long after his death thanks to the letters that kept coming and the plans he made, but he wasn’t around to leave the toilet seat up or annoy her anymore – win win for ol’ Hilary Swank. Plus, I don’t understand why so many chick flicks have to be such maudlin tearjerkers.
On the other hand, aside from Hilary “Why the long face?” Swank, I rather enjoyed the movie’s cast: Gerard “King Leonidas” Butler, Harry Connick Jr., the always-sexy Gina Gershon, James “Spike” Marsters, and super-cute singer-songwriter Nellie McKay as Holly’s sister. And it had a great soundtrack with two Pogues songs and a Flogging Molly song.
My daughter chose to see the movie yesterday for our Mom-Daughter date.
I liked the movie enough to decide to buy it when it comes out on video.
Jerry was obviously the love of her life, and in the movie it was a year after his death that she decided to get on with life (didnt read the book so I dont know how it compares). I didnt get the impression in the movie that she was a psycho-nut, and I dont think a year to mourn is too much time. Heck, I remember a lady I worked with who lost her husband to cancer and seemed to being handling it… until 6 months later when she had a breakdown.
forgot to add: impression at end of movie - she was reunited with Jerry’s best mate in Ireland, and there was a definate spark.
Lou, thanks. That gives me the closure I need. 
Sounds like they tried to walk the line; create an ambiguous enough ending that those who liked the ending in the book could believe she stayed single, while those who wanted to believe she’d find a new guy could believe that too.
I agree that a year isn’t too long to mourn. The book was pretty poorly written, so I had to slog through it to finish it, because I’m one of those people who finds it very hard to put down even a bad book. And in the book, she’s one of the most shallow, self-centered people you’d ever want to meet; utterly unlikeable. I was frankly shocked that they’d try to make a movie out of that book.
While at the very end it is implied that she might hook up with his friend in Ireland, before that she basically decides to explore love in other forms, such as love for her new creative career. Then she considers dating a guy that has befriended her throughout the movie, but when they kiss they decide they don’t have romantic chemistry.
I just saw the movie tonight. I have to say I really enjoyed it. Well maybe not “enjoy” per se - while there were a lot of funny or endearing moments, the sentiment was just as often sad. Maybe “involved” is a better word. Until I saw the credits I didn’t realize the husband was Gerard Butler AKA “This… Is… SPARTA!”. Given that James Marsters was in the film, it was amusing that one of the careers Swank was considering was “vampire slayer”. 
Loved the soundtrack too. Haven’t read the book.
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