As always with a film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, one can count on being given a lot to think about on various levels as her stories unfold on screen. “Please Give” is no exception as we slowly, and certainly deliberately, learn of the deep issues that each of the principal characters is facing outwardly, as well as internally…

Kate (Catherine Keener) is a New Yorker who runs a furniture store with her husband, Alex (Oliver Platt). We early on from the statement of Alex, "We buy from the children of dead people" gives an indication of his pragmatic view! Their business is doing rather well, which makes Kate feel guilty. As compensation for her guilt, as she goes about her regular errands, she gives money to the homeless street people she sees along her routes.

Kate's feelings are amplified because of her roving husband, her job, her insecure teenage daughter (Sarah Steele), and her neighbor Andra (Ann Guilbert), an old lady whose death will mean that she and Alex can annex her apartment and make theirs bigger. Andra's unmarried granddaughters are the shy Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) and provocative Mary (Amanda Peet), are aware of Kate's plan to enlarge she and Alex’s apartment when their grandmother passes on.

A dinner party in honor of Andra's birthday which they all attend, is a culminating scene and a revelation as feelings, motivations, and the purging of hidden feelings come to the surface. To say anymore would violate my rules of not giving away vital clues, or the ending. Let’s just say, see “Please Give”, it’ll surely make one examine the dual aspect of ‘giving’ and ‘receiving’…

“Please Give” starring Rebecca Hall, Elizabeth Keener, Elise Ivy, Catherine Keener, Josh Pais, Sarah Steele, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Amanda Peet, and Oliver Platt.

Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. Sony Pictures Classics release. Rated R for language, some sexual content and nudity. Runtime: 90 minutes.

To view the trailer! ~ For a theater near you! ~ There’s movie news and a whole lot more at the ‘Screen Scene’ Movie Newsletter!