Review of Please Give (2010) by Mark C — 18 Mar 2011

"You're a really good person.".

In New York City, a husband and wife butt heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives in apartment the couple owns.

REVIEW.

Funny, touching & poignantly human comedy/drama from filmmaker Nicole Holofcener mixing the mean with the meaningful focusing on a married couple (the always magnetic Keener in arguably a career high and always watchable Platt, ditto), who run a business involving used furniture procured from the grief-stricken family members of the recently deceased elderly and their run-ins with guilt by association with fellow tenant Morgan Guilbert, a cranky senior whose apartment they covet as well. Told with clear-eyed misanthropy mixed with bittersweet loveliness the film packs an emotional wallop while pulling the heart-strings, jerking tears & tickling the funny bone. Kudos to Morgan Guilbert's oil and vinegar granddaughters, wallflower with a heart of gold Hall (who just gets better with each showcase of her talent) and bitch on wheels Peet (a surprising departure from her usual sunny dispositions); one of the year's very best.