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Please Give

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Please Give
Theatrical release poster
Directed byNicole Holofcener
Written byNicole Holofcener
Produced byAnthony Bregman
Starring
CinematographyYaron Orbach
Edited byRobert Frazen
Music byMarcelo Zarvos
Production
company
Distributed bySony Pictures Classics
Release dates
  • January 22, 2010 (2010-01-22) (Sundance)
  • April 30, 2010 (2010-04-30) (United States)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3 million[1]
Box office$4.5 million[2]

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

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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

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Release

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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.[3]

Filming

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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.[4]

Reception

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Box office

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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.[2]

Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 142 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "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."[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[6]

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."[7]

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."[8]

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."[9]

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."[10]

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."[11]

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."[12]

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."[13]

References

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  1. ^ Ryzik, Melena (April 23, 2010). "Relationships and Other Possessions". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Please Give". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  3. ^ "Please Give (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  4. ^ "Please Give Film Locations". onthesetofnewyork.com. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  5. ^ "Please Give". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  6. ^ "Please Give". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  7. ^ Dargis, Manohla (April 29, 2010). "Holding Up a Mirror to Women, Thorns and All". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 16, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  8. ^ Turan, Kenneth (April 30, 2010). "Movie review: 'Please Give'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  9. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (April 30, 2010). "Please Give". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  10. ^ Chang, Justin (January 23, 2010). "Please Give". Variety. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  11. ^ Edelstein, David (April 23, 2010). "The Selfish Altruist". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on February 6, 2024. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  12. ^ Travers, Peter (April 29, 2010). "Please Give". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  13. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (June 17, 2010). "Please Give". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
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