Please Give

2010 Comedy

A family looking for some extra space gets drawn into a difficult relationship with the folks next door in this comedy drama from writer and director Nicole Holofcener. Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) are a couple living in New York City who run a successful store specializing in vintage furniture. Kate and Alex have a teenage daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele) and their apartment is starting to feel a bit small for the three of them; Kate and Alex own the unit next door to them, and once the flat becomes vacant, they plan to knock out a wall and take over the space. However, Andra (Ann Morgan Guilbert), their tenant, is an elderly woman with a poor disposition who doesn't seem eager to go anywhere soon, and it's occurred to Kate and Alex that they're probably going to have wait for her to die, since evicting her would be very awkward. Hoping to make the best of the situation, Kate tries to strike up a friendship with Andra and her fiercely protective granddaughter Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), but Andra isn't especially interested in making new friends, and Rebecca's sister, Mary (Amanda Peet), isn't much easier to deal with. Kate and Alex are also struggling to communicate with Abby, who has her own issues regarding self-image. Please Give received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. more..

Director: Nicole Holofcener

Starring: Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Sarah Steele

 30 Reviews  11 Awards

Reviews

  • This gorgeous film, always tender and sometimes dark, is a deeply resonant comic drama that's concerned with nothing less than life, death, love, sex, guilt and the urban logic of mortality.

    Joe Morgenstern - The Wall Street Journal

    26 April 2013

  • In Please Give, the sharp-eyed filmmaker sends her vibrant representative out into the world to explore what it means for a woman to be lucky and still feel itchy. The report has the resonant ring of truth.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

  • The pitch-perfect performances help Holofcener stir up feelings that cut to the heart of what defines an ethical life. There's no movie around right now with a subject more pertinent. It'll hit you hard.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    26 April 2013

  • Sometimes -- and far too rarely -- a film will hit all the right notes, with sharp, original dialogue, brilliant casting and an absorbing story. So caught up in its spell, you dread seeing the credits roll. Please Give is that movie.

    Claudia Puig - USA Today

    26 April 2013

  • Please Give is a moral comedy that feels at times like one of the late Eric Rohmer's deceptively breezy miniatures, or a mid-period Woody Allen movie minus the fussiness.

    Ty Burr - The Boston Globe

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Screenplay

    Boston Society of Film Critics Awards (2010)

  • Best Overlooked Film

    Central Ohio Film Critics Association (2011)

  • Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast

    Chlotrudis Awards (2011)

     

  • Best Actress

    Evening Standard British Film Awards (2011)

     

  • Catherine Keener

    Gotham Awards (2010)

     

Lists

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