My original review, from July 2010:
Please Give, a black comedy written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, is a very funny, quirky, low-key piece well worth checking out if you can find a cinema showing it.
Borrowing extensively from Woody Allen, yet unique and original in its own right, the plot revolves around second hand furniture shop owners Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt). They obtain their wares from the children of the recently deceased, paying far less than they are actually worth. To counter the guilt she feels as a result, Kate makes several misguided attempts at getting involved with worthy causes. But her hilariously inept attempts at helping the homeless and assisting with special needs children backfire when her daughter Abby (Sarah Steele) begins to resent her for not ever spending money on her.
To complicate matters, Kate and Alex are landlords to their next door neighbours Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) and Mary (Amanda Peet), both of whom are looking after their very elderly and obnoxious grandmother Andra (Ann Morgan Guilbert). Once she dies, Kate and Alex plan to knock through to their apartment and extend their living space, but Andra is taking a very long time to shuffle her mortal coil, to the irritation of all except the good natured Rebecca.
The screenplay is sharp, witty, and consistently funny. Holofcener mines a rich vein of dark New York humour and also teases subtle, affecting, hilarious performances from her entire cast, especially Catherine Keener and Rebecca Hall.
Not everything rings true on a moral/spiritual level, especially a subplot involving adultery wherein the view that an affair can actually help a marriage once again rears its ugly head. Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters covered this issue in a similar way, and like that film, the conclusion reached seems to be that what the other half doesn’t know won’t hurt them, provided one reaches the moment of realisation that they are actually better off with their spouse. On a more positive note, honouring the elderly, however irritating and unpleasant they may be, is promoted. Furthermore, the simple kindness of Rebecca’s character is ultimately rewarded, negating the bleak worldview put forward by her cynical and bitter sister that everything only ever gets worse.
All of which makes Please Give sound heavy and depressing, but it really isn’t. It’s a very refreshing and honest, with a jet black comic heart.