Please Give

{{Infobox film

| name = Please Give

| image = Please Give Film.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Nicole Holofcener

| writer = Nicole Holofcener

| producer = Anthony Bregman

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| cinematography = Yaron Orbach

| editing = Robert Frazen

| music = Marcelo Zarvos

| studio = Likely Story

| distributor = Sony Pictures Classics

| released = {{Film date|2010|01|22|Sundance|2010|04|30|United States}}

| runtime = 87 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $3 million{{cite news|last=Ryzik|first=Melena|date=April 23, 2010|title=Relationships and Other Possessions|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/movies/25give.html|url-status=live|work=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240112232012/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/movies/25give.html|archive-date=January 12, 2024|access-date=March 23, 2024}}

| gross = $4.5 million{{cite The Numbers|id=Please-Give|title=Please Give|access-date=March 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126130938/https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Please-Give|archive-date=November 26, 2022|url-status=live}}

}}

Please Give is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. It stars Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Ann Guilbert, and Sarah Steele. It revolves around married antique-dealers butting heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives in the apartment the couple owns.

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2010, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 30, 2010, by Sony Pictures Classics. It grossed over $4.5 million worldwide against a $3 million budget. It received positive reviews from critics, who mostly praised Holofcener's screenplay and the performances of the cast, and was named one of the top 10 independent films of 2010 by the National Board of Review. At the 26th Independent Spirit Awards, the film was given the Robert Altman Award and Holofcener was nominated for Best Screenplay.

Plot summary

Kate and Alex are a couple living in a New York City apartment with their teenage daughter, Abby. Kate and Alex own a furniture store specializing in used modern furniture, which they buy at estate sales. They have bought the apartment adjacent to theirs, but its occupant, the elderly and cranky Andra, will stay in it until she dies. Andra has two granddaughters, the dutiful and generous Rebecca, a mammography technologist, and the cynical, sharp-tongued Mary, a cosmetologist.

Kate is troubled by the profits she makes from furniture sellers who do not know the value of what they are selling; the contrast between homeless people in her neighborhood and her own comfortable life; and the fact that her family will only be able to expand their apartment when Andra dies. She tries to assuage her guilt through volunteer jobs (which leave her weeping) and donations to homeless individuals (which sometimes backfire).

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Catherine Keener as Kate
Amanda Peet as Mary
Oliver Platt as Alex
Rebecca Hall as Rebecca
Ann Guilbert as Andra
Sarah Steele as Abby
Thomas Ian Nicholas as Eugene
Lois Smith as Mrs. Portman
Josh Pais as Adam
Amy Wright as Erin
Elizabeth Keener as Cathy
Elise Ivy as Marissa
Scott Cohen as Dr. Lerner
John Srednicki as Tommy
Timothy Doyle as Kevin
Rebecca Budig as Big Back
Romy Rosemont as Carrie-Ann
Kathleen Doyle as Anita
Kevin Corrigan as Don
Elizabeth Berridge as Elyse
Portia as Mrs. Melnick
Paul Sparks as Blind Date
Arthur French as Man Waiting for a Table

}}

Release

Please Give was screened out of competition at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, and had a limited U.S. release on April 30, 2010. It opened with $118,123 in five theaters, averaging $23,625 per cinema.{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pleasegive.htm|title=Please Give (2010)|work=Box Office Mojo|accessdate=5 May 2010}}

Filming

Please Give was filmed almost entirely in New York City. The bulk of the film was shot in Chelsea, including the spa scenes at Skintology, a day and medical spa.{{cite web |title=Please Give Film Locations |url=http://onthesetofnewyork.com/pleasegive.html |access-date=November 24, 2022 |website=onthesetofnewyork.com}}

Reception

=Box office=

Please Give grossed $4,033,574 in the United States and Canada, and $533,088 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $4,566,662.

=Critical response=

{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|85|7.5|140|consensus=Nicole Holofcener's newest might seem slight in places, but its rendering of complex characters in a conflicted economic landscape is varied, natural, and touching all the same.|ref=yes|access-date=April 28, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123134950/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/0878835|archive-date=November 23, 2023|url-status=live}} {{Metacritic film prose|78|35|ref=yes|access-date=March 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602234935/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/please-give|archive-date=June 2, 2023|url-status=live}}

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times opined, "Few American filmmakers create female characters as realistically funny, attractively imperfect and flat-out annoying as does Ms. Holofcener."{{cite news|last=Dargis|first=Manohla|date=April 29, 2010|title=Holding Up a Mirror to Women, Thorns and All|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/movies/30please.html|url-status=live|work=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616172513/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/movies/30please.html|archive-date=June 16, 2023|access-date=March 24, 2024}}

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated, "Please Give concerns itself with the free-floating, amorphous guilt that's often characteristic of the modern urban condition. Obviously, it is a fine thing to help, to give, but Please Give wonders whether a good thing can be overdone, whether too much liberal guilt can leave you feeling too bad for too many people to do any real good."{{cite news|last=Turan|first=Kenneth|date=April 30, 2010|title=Movie review: 'Please Give'|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-30-la-et-please-give-20100430-story.html|url-status=live|work=Los Angeles Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130143532/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-30-la-et-please-give-20100430-story.html|archive-date=November 30, 2023|access-date=March 24, 2024}}

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A−" and wrote, "With their shared characteristics of sex, age, motherhood, and brunet hair, Keener has become Holofcener's artistic alter ego. 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."{{cite magazine|last=Schwarzbaum|first=Lisa|date=April 30, 2010|title=Please Give|url=https://ew.com/article/2010/04/30/please-give/|url-status=live|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420075035/https://ew.com/article/2010/04/30/please-give/|archive-date=April 20, 2021|access-date=March 24, 2024}}

Justin Chang of Variety commented, "Like Holofcener's previous pictures, Please Give derives its narrative energy less from a series of plotted incidents than from its keenly observed interplay of clashing personality tics and worldviews."{{cite news|last=Chang|first=Justin|date=January 23, 2010|title=Please Give|url=https://variety.com/2010/film/markets-festivals/please-give-1117941946/|url-status=live|work=Variety|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628045745/http://variety.com/2010/film/markets-festivals/please-give-1117941946/|archive-date=June 28, 2017|access-date=March 24, 2024}}

David Edelstein of New York Magazine described the film as "an engagingly high-strung comedy about lack of empathy and the gnawing guilt that can attend it" and remarked, "Holofcener's plotting can seem casual, but her dialogue is smart, an oscillating mixture of abrasiveness and balm, of harsh satire and compassionate pullback."{{cite news|last=Edelstein|first=David|date=April 23, 2010|title=The Selfish Altruist|url=https://nymag.com/movies/reviews/65622/|url-status=live|work=New York Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206114219/https://nymag.com/movies/reviews/65622/|archive-date=February 6, 2024|access-date=March 24, 2024}}

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and noted, "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."{{cite magazine|last=Travers|first=Peter|date=April 29, 2010|title=Please Give|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/please-give-248230/|url-status=live|magazine=Rolling Stone|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703040420/https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/please-give-248230/|archive-date=July 3, 2022|access-date=March 24, 2024}}

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "Please Give is an interesting and refreshing turn for the better. As an ensemble comedy, it has more bounce, more life and more comic oxygen."{{cite news|last=Bradshaw|first=Peter|date=June 17, 2010|title=Please Give|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/17/please-give-film-review|url-status=live|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006105515/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/17/please-give-film-review|archive-date=October 6, 2021|access-date=March 24, 2024}}

=Accolades=

At the 15th Satellite Awards, the film's editor Robert Frazen won for Best Editing. It was also nominated for Best Film – Musical or Comedy, ultimately losing to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.{{cite news|last=Kilday|first=Gregg|date=December 19, 2010|title='Social Network' Named Best Dramatic Film at Satellite Awards|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/social-network-named-dramatic-film-61579/|url-status=live|work=The Hollywood Reporter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130135131/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/social-network-named-dramatic-film-61579/|archive-date=November 30, 2024|access-date=December 29, 2024}}