Movie Summary of Please Give by Michael The Moviegoer.
PLEASE GIVE = **
“Giving Up”
I have a theory that a comfort zone develops between actors and directors who work together too often. It causes their performances to feel phoned-in. Because the directors and actors are friends in real life, they may not even notice when a performance is off. That must explain Harrison Ford’s silliness in his fourth Indiana Jones movie with Steven Spielberg. I also think it explains why one of my favorite actresses, Catherine Keener, is lifeless and dull to the point of distraction in “Please Give”, her fourth film for director Nicole Holofcener.
Here, Keener plays a woman who shares a business with her husband Oliver Platt in which they sell artwork and furniture they purchased from the families of people who have recently died. They are raising a teenage daughter with a skin condition that made me thankful this wasn’t a 3D movie.
Keener is consumed with guilt over how she makes a living, so she tries to compensate by giving to the homeless and the less fortunate. Meanwhile her daughter wants a pair of $200 jeans, and her husband is having an affair.
“Please Give” is hollow with echoes of Holofcener’s last film, the much better “Friends With Money” starring Jennifer Aniston. The characters inhabit the same world and deal with many of the same issues in both films.
Anyone who is a fan of Holofcener’s previous films will easily notice that in “Please Give” she and Keener seem a bit tired.
DVD Double Feature: “Walking And Talking” was one of the most pleasant surprises of 1996. Nicole Holofcener’s first film starred a fresh, plucky and relatively unknown actress by the name of Catherine Keener. It’s a thoughtful romantic comedy dealing with pre-wedding jitters, cold feet and second thoughts. As the title suggests, it’s quite talkey. But in a very intelligent way.
Michael The Moviegoer
