Rating: 
Summary: Compelling human drama
Review: "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday" is a compelling human drama that is a masterful potpourri of characters drawn together for different reasons to commemorate a tragic anniversary. The script is superb, well written and echoes other masterpieces like "The Man With No Face" and "On Golden Pond." The film is masterfully complemented by James Horner's soaring movie soundtrack score. Those who don't like this film were probably thinking that they were going to see a reunion film starring Bob Denver and Alan Hale titled "To Gilligan on His 57th Birthday." And, true, they would likely have been more comfortable with a film where the professor and Mary Ann send out invitations to a surprise party written on dried fig leaves. Or they were perhaps afraid to approach 40 or to dare to remember the ghosts of their lives so passionately and so vividly. Don't mistake Gillian for Gilligan, accept the invitation to take a long look inside and enjoy this film.
Rating:
Summary: Emotions
Review: Although Freddie Jr. only made a cameo in this,It was very moving,
I thought that if anyone having trouble letting go of loved ones they most certainly can connect with the emotions of the movie, Anyone interested to know how deep some people can be affected by loss and haven't seen this yet I think it was great, Oddly enough I have watched all of the entertainers in this movie from previous things and they are all very good in this. I think all of the characters were truely believable in it and at no time in the movie did I say (that's not right). Deborah Elliott,
Rating:
Summary: A "birthday" gift to buy for someone!
Review: Although the movie is slow moving, the plot is great and keeps your attention. Claire Danes plays the daughter of a man who still "believes" his deacesed wife (Jillian) is still alive. He "talks" to his dead wife every night on the beach, believing his hallucinations are real, creating emotional troubles for his daughter. That sums up 95% of the movie, so in respect for Amazon, i will not give away any more. But i will tell you it is very emotional and warm-hearted. So buy this movie for any "birthday" occasion, and celebrate!
Rating:
Summary: Wait a minute, this is a great movie
Review: Although very much a chick flick and very much lampooned by other reviewers, I found this a very entertaining and deep movie. Yeah, its a tearjerker, yeah, it has some standard soap opera situations in it, but the interweaving of the returning ghost and the soul searching of the characters might make you take a good look at your own life. I loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: Full Frame - Boooooooo!!!!!
Review: Even though this film was originally released in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the DVD format traditionally preserves a film's original artistry and scope, Columbia-Tristar decided to modify this film for your television set. By doing this, Columbia-Tristar make clear that they have no respect for this film and think that it's a terrible film undeserving of your money. Don't waste your money on this cheep DVD vandalization of this film. Wait until they give it a proper widescreen release.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: First of all, for the caliber of actors in this movie, they deserved a better script. Michelle Pfeifer and Peter Gallagher are class acts, but really this movie just did not dig deep enough. I have read all the rave reviews of Claire Danes, as I have read all the raves in the past and I am beside myself. I mean she has mastered the part of the proverbial angst-ridden pouting teenager to a tee. If this is her niche, so be it. The premise of the story is pretty decent -- a man loses his wife in a tragic freak accident and has a hard time moving on. Completely understandable. Then his annoying sister in law and her equally annoying husband arrive and proceed to berate the poor guy for mooning over a wife that is dead. Oh my god, stop the presses. These people had the sensitivity of androids. It would have been nice to see him kick these people out of the house, but then the film would'nt drone on and on, This is a good film for a rainy day. But I expected more.
Rating: 
Summary: looks more like a 2 hour J-Crew infommercial than a movie
Review: Gillian (Michelle Pfeiffer) died in a freak accident on her husbands boat on her birthday two years ago. Now a widower, her husband David (Peter Gallagher) is stuck in funk partly embittered and partly delusional about his loss. Caring alone for his daughter Rachel(Claire Daines) in their beachside home on some New England coast, secretly imagining that Gillian is still with him, David's peaceful existence is disturbed by the arrival of Gillian's sister Esther (Kathy Baker, an alum of David Kelley's "Picket Fences") and her husband, Paul (Bruce Altman). It's not quite clear why David is supposed to put up with these pests who want to save him by getting him to let go of his late wife (or at least save Rachel from a shriveling existence with her batty father). (Less clear is why Rachel's obnoxious and flirtatious friend remains a constant presence - she's much too adventurous for the shy Rachel, and doesn't find Paul's leery advances any more preferable.) For a feature film, "Gillian" packs less entertainment than an episode of Ally Mcbeal, and fills the vacuum with standard TV wisdom (you've got to let go of the past; it's better to love and lose than never love at all). Director David Kelly centers the film around the gorgeous Michelle Phieffer, but never makes much of her - is she a ghost or is David really losing his mind? She's not even convincing as a delusion. "Gillian" takes itself pretty seriously, but it's thin stuff, dressed up in gorgeous scenery - the beach, the house and even the boat that carries Gillian to her watery end are picture perfect. In fact, it doesn't take too long before "Gillian" begins resembling less a movie than a really long infomercial for J-Crew or The Gap (when one scene cuts to another of Rachel and her friend trying on thongs, you'll know for certain). Even the chatty interplay between Paul and Rachel's flirty friend, which was fine when it stayed light, takes a heavy turn when she serves a nasty rebuff for an advance he hadn't made. Paul is left to ponder if his safer, and undminished existence really beats his brother-in law's bereaved widowhood. "If life were a truck" he asks Esther afterwards "is it better to let it run over you to let it pass you by?" It's actually a beguiling question, but not one the rest of the script does any justice - only a hint of what could have been a better movie, and a loss really worth mourning. Esther's response is good - probably too good. (The flick had the choice of giving her a trite answer that might actually explain this self-important film, or one gets some laughs, and its choice shows where the scipt's priorities really are.) In short, neither very insightful nor imaginative, an uninspired flick that passes in the night like a wraith.
Rating:
Summary: I Relate Deeply To This Movie
Review: Having lost my wife under similiar circumstances, I experienced exactly What Peter Gallagher's acting expressed in this Film. His moving potrail of deep grief was so much like what I was experiencing it was chilling. The film did make me realize, that its time to move on.
Rating: 
Summary: He knows she's dead
Review: Here's the thing about this movie: He knows she's dead. A lot of the other reviewers here seem to forget that he acknowledges she's dead but that doesn't matter. She is dead but not gone. For some people, that statement sounds like some kind of sacchrine line to calm children. Sometimes it's the truth, though, and that's what this movie is about.
The movie does take itself seriously, but the subject IS serious. This is a solid movie, it's not a great film. Taking yourself seriously is not the same as claiming greatness. David Kelly is a capable director and the cast has chemistry and participate in the telling of a good story. That's it. It's a good story, and a fine film.
Rating:
Summary: WHAT were they thinking?
Review: Horrible, horrible film. Maudlin story. Pathetic characters. I looked at my watch over and over and over again. Then I looked at it one more time. And I happen to be a woman who typically enjoys so-called "romantic" movies! The only worthwhile aspect of this disappointing film is the gorgeous real estate scenery. The Peter Gallagher character is a tragic, lovesick widower who secretly confides in a fantasy version of his dead wife, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. He is a laughably overpaid literature professor at Boston University -- a professor who resides, as we know that all university faculty do, in a million-dollar mansion in the Hamptons. His imperious sister-in-law (Kathy Baker) visits him on the second anniversary weekend of her sister's death, with a hideous twofold agenda: she wants to not only set up the poor man with a reluctant divorcee she's dragged along, but she also intends to take this man to court to gain formal custody of his teenage daughter (Claire Danes). This sister-in-law spends the rest of the film trading quips with her husband, who openly lusts after the sexually precocious teenage girl who lives next door (but hey, he's just kidding around, so it's okay!) Every scene, every exchange of dialogue, was just so, so offensive to watch and listen to. The dialogue made me wince ... over and over and over again.
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