Independent filmmaker Nicole Holofcener crafts interesting, three-dimensional roles for women and has a strong ear for believable dialogue. This has been evident in her three previous films - Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing, and Friends with Money. If you were to find flaw in her work, it would be that Holofcener tends to focus on women of privilege who some may find hard to sympathize with. That's certainly the case with her newest film, Please Give, a story about bourgeois New Yorkers and the liberal guilt that comes with their lifestyle.
Please Give starts with an unconventional opening montage featuring a series of breasts being laid out for their mammograms. These aren't the firm, silicone enhanced type you'd find in Playboy. These breasts come in all shapes and sizes, big or small and young or saggy. Catherine Keener, a frequent star of Holofcener's, plays Cathy who runs a vintage furniture store with her husband, Alex (Oliver Platt). They purchase their inventory from the children of the recently deceased who are generally too distraught or ambivalent to care where their parents' things go. Cathy's teenage daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele), struggles with insecurities about her body image and the onset of acne.
Cathy and Alex live next door to the 91-year old Andra (Ann Morgan Guilbert), a crotchety grandmother who finds fault in everyone and everything. Cathy and Alex have already purchased her apartment and will annex it upon her death. Andra is cared for by granddaughter, Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), the mammogram technician handling the breasts seen earlier. She's dutiful in performing chores for her grandma. Rebecca fetches her medication, buys her groceries, and does all the laundry, even if Andra isn't very grateful. Rebecca's sister, Mary (Amanda Peet), is a well-tanned and irresponsible spa worker. She doesn't share the same tolerance for granny as Rebecca and is quite tactless about her forthcoming death.
Cathy feels guilty for profiting off the death of others. She attempts to assuage those feelings through volunteer work and giving money and leftovers to the homeless. Abby is appalled that her mom won't buy her those $200 designer jeans she wants while having on problem handing a twenty to the bum they always pass on the streets.
As a character study of upper-middle class New Yorkers, Please Give has a distinct Woody Allen feel to it. There's no driving plot to the film instead, Holofcener gives us a slice of life affair, dropping us right into their everyday routine. She also imbues her film with a restrained sense of humor. The acting is strong, especially from Keener and Guilbert. What holds back the movie is your level of empathy for its characters. It's hard to identify with whiny, insecure people when they are well off and their main problems involve how to decorate their big-ass apartment.
Rating: ** ½
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