Review: Please Give

Excellent performances, a well-written script, comic at times and emotional without being sappy at others ... and an odd feeling of discomfort after seeing the movie. That was my experience watching Please Give, the latest film from Nicole Holofcener (Friends with Money). I enjoyed the movie as much as is possible while at the same time, wondering if some of the film was more relevant to me than I cared to admit.

Please Give focuses its gaze on a privileged family in New York City as well as the less fortunate family living across the hall, and their interactions. Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) run a vintage furniture store, often buying their wares from the family members of recently deceased elderly folks who just want to get rid of the furniture, unaware of its potential value. They've also bought the apartment across the hall from them, hoping to knock down the walls and enlarge their own home once the aging tenant Andra dies.

Kate is starting to worry about what other people think of her job and her lifestyle. She tries to alleviate her guilt by giving money to homeless people and attempting volunteer work. Meanwhile, her teenage daughter Abby (Sarah Steele) wants to be able to buy expensive things like her parents do, and is fighting body-image issues that no one else seems to understand.

Andra's granddaughter Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) visits her regularly, while balancing a job as a mammogram technician; Rebecca's sister Mary (Amanda Peet), on the other hand, is determined to put her own self first in as many ways as possible, not caring what other people think, not filtering her conversations. At times the sisters hardly seem to get along with one another, much less with the rest of the world around them ... including their dealings with Kate and her family.

The casting in this movie is perfect -- the actors are in roles that reflect other characters they've played in the past, but without stereotyping. Keener is the worrier, Platt is more carefree ... until one scene in which Kate get carried away in talking about the home improvements she wants to make, forgetting Andra is right there, until Alex interrupts her and tries to smooth things over. Even the coldest characters aren't painted as the bad guys in this film; even characters who do morally reprehensible things show their human side.

What made me feel uncomfortable? Keener's character, motivated by guilt to try to help others, but without any actual sacrifice of her own comfort or lifestyle. That hit a little close to home, although I have never had the same volunteer experiences her character has. Please Give isn't afraid to show us these characters as living in a bubble, never quite connecting with the reality of other characters who eat take-out food for dinner or who scavenge thrown-away gifts as a luxury for themselves. "Psst," I heard a voice in my head say, "Are you in the same bubble?"

Please Give is not a feel-good film, and I am happy to report that it doesn't have the same type of fake-feeling ending as Friends with Money (which nearly ruined the movie for me). Despite that, it's still well worth watching ... a good summer movie option for grown-ups. And while I may not have known who Paul Krugman was in Get Him to the Greek, I happily spotted Sarah Vowell briefly in this movie.