The film “P.S.,” which premiered last night at Clearview Chelsea West on 23rd Street, has all the elements of a classic New York City drama: fine art, a May-December romance, and admissions anxiety.

The film stars Laura Linney as an admissions officer at Columbia’s School of Fine Arts. Topher Grace, of the sitcom “That 70s Show” and the movie “Traffic,” plays an applicant to the school who bears a striking resemblance to Ms. Linney’s first love.

Most of “P.S.” was filmed on location in Manhattan.

Ms. Linney, who wore Prada to the premiere, said she loved shooting “P.S.” in the city because she grew up here, in an apartment “in the East 60s.” Her father (who worked at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital) and her stepmother still live in Manhattan, and she has a sister in Brooklyn.

Mr. Grace and his co-star Paul Rudd both described themselves last night as “news junkies.” Mr. Rudd wore a “Bush is over” T-shirt “to protest the Bush administration” and a Yankees cap “to protest whoever scheduled this premiere” on the night of the Yanks’ first match up with the Boston Red Sox.

Writer-director Dylan Kidd’s mother traveled from Boston to see her son’s movie, but if she’s a Sox fan, she kept it to herself as she happily snapped photos of her son talking with journalists on the red carpet.

Mr. Kidd’s first film, “Roger Dodger,” won the award for best feature film at the first TriBeCa Film Festival in 2002. He has lived in New York City (currently in Sunnyside, Queens) for 15 years, and said that shooting in his hometown means that the city “becomes a separate character…Unless you want to forge a relationship with the big studios, New York is a viable alternative [to L.A.].”