Purely Joyful Movie!

Just what I expected

How sad is this?

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) are a NYC couple with a teenage daughter Abby (Sarah Steele). They own an upscale used furniture store and bought out their adjacent neighbor Andra's apartment once she finally dies. Single nurse Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) dutifully takes care of her hateful grandma Andra. The other granddaughter Mary (Amanda Peet) is a smart-mouthed cynic. Kate wonders if she should volunteer and awkwardly tries to show her generosity.It's a fascinating group of characters but nothing is truly outrageously funny. There is some smirk worthy moments. I like that Kate is not ridiculous but also not normal. These are flawed characters struggling to find connections. Nicole Holofcener finds the lighter moments as well as some deeper personal issues. I wish the two main characters have more connections. The movie is concentrating on Rebecca Hall and Elizabeth Keener but they don't have enough direct interactions together.

This is a light-hearted look at the lives of a married couple, a dying old woman who lives next door, and the latter's two granddaughters. Keener is wonderful as an emotional woman who gives big bills to homeless street people and yearns to volunteer her time to help the poor and disabled. Peet is deliciously bitchy as a self-absorbed spa worker. Hall is fine as Peet's sensitive sister, although it's hard to believe that she has trouble getting dates. Guilbert is a hoot as the sisters' grandmother, a blunt woman in her 90s. Rounding out the cast are Platt and as Keener's wayward husband and Steele as her spoiled daughter, respectively. It's sensitively directed by Holofcenter.

Nicole Holofcener explores intertwining stories between and around two families who live in a New York apartment building. There's a very opinionated, blunt and sometimes bitter 91 year old grandmother, Andra, who is regularly visited by her youngest granddaughter Rebecca while the self-centred elder one, Mary (who is put off by her grandmother's bluntness) obsesses about herself (especially her looks). Little does she know that she's pretty much just like Andra. Next door to Andra lives a married couple Kate and Alex and their teenage daughter Abby who complains about her looks. Kate and Alex, who own Andra's apartment, plan to extend it to their own after her death. Kate overwhelmed by the less privileged, always gives out money to the homeless (much against her daughter's wish) but at the same time she wants to do more charitable work. Yet, when the time comes she is just too overwhelmed to go a step further and runs out from the center of the mentally handicapped.'Please Give' looks at the stories of these characters with humour. Holofcener touches themes like death, guilt, self-centredness, adultery and commitment but it's all done with a well balanced touch of comedy. Her writing is solid. It has a whimsical narrative similar to some of Woody Allen's best works. The intense sequences are subtle and effective. The characters are well-defined and recognizable. They are cleverly written with a comic touch.It is also a well crafted little film. The sets are simple yet detailed. The cinematography is first rate. The editing is fine.'Please Give' is loaded with excellent performances. Catherine Keener and Rebecca Hall brilliantly downplay their parts. Amanda Peet is spot on as the bitchy Mary. Oliver Platt performs naturally. Lois Smith is a delight and Ann Morgan Guilbert is very good.'Please Give' has heart, humour and substance. Thankfully, it is lacking in the kind of melodrama that has become an ingredient in many Hollywood films of this genre. Overall, Nicole Holofcener has made a fine little film that explores the (direct and indirect but significant) effects people have on others. I hope she keeps giving us little gems like this.

Perhaps the most interesting observations in 'Please Give', Nicole Holofcener's new 'dramedy' about two families that live next to each other in a New York City apartment building, are not the main characters' personalities but rather their professions. Cathy (Elizabeth Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) run a second hand furniture store, usually obtaining merchandise from home owners who have recently lost a family member. Then there are the two sisters who live next door: Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) who is a radiologist assistant at a mammography clinic and Mary (Amanda Peat) who does facials at a salon.'Please Give' begins with unsettling closeups of womens' breasts at the mammography clinic. When viewing these images at the beginning of the film, one wonders if this is going to be one of those intense dramas about people afflicted with cancer. We soon discover, however, that 'Please Give' focuses much more on inconsequential concerns.The title refers to Cathy's overly altruistic nature. This is a woman who feels compelled to give money to homeless people whenever she bumps into them on the street. Her teenage daughter, Abby, is appalled by her mother's misguided altruism; in one scene, Abby takes a $20 bill away from her mother, who then pulls out a $5 bill, handing it to the homeless person, apologizing anyway that she doesn't have more to give him. Later, Cathy tries to land a job doing volunteer work, working with children with special needs; unfortunately, she becomes overly emotional about the nature of the handicapped kids' situation, which interferes with her ability to assist them on a practical basis.One of the main story lines involves Cathy and Alex purchasing their next door neighbor's apartment. The apartment will only be for sale when Rebecca and Mary's grandmother, Andra, kicks the bucket. She's a petulant old woman with a foul mouth. Additional conflict pops up between Rebecca who disapproves of the way her sister Mary treats their grandmother (Mary perhaps being the film's antagonist, due to her cold-hearted disposition).Little much else happens plot-wise in 'Please Give': Alex has a brief affair with Mary; Cathy argues about Abby's desire to purchase some expensive designer jeans; Rebecca begins going out with the grandson of one of the patients at the clinic; Cathy struggles with guilt feelings over the furniture markups and Andra finally does indeed kick the bucket.All's well that end's well when Cathy and Alex seem to resolve their differences with their teenage daughter and agree to purchase those expensive jeans she's been craving all along.Ultimately, Holofcener fails to develop her characters into full-realized human beings. Each has a quirky aspect to their personality and are placed in situations that I would hardly call 'riveting'. 'Please Give' is incredibly slow-paced and the laughs are few and far between. This film would have been much more compelling if the stakes were somehow raised and we were treated to a plot replete with all kinds of unusual twists and turns.