Please Give

Nicole Holofcener’s latest drama, Please Give, examines a handful of unhappy New Yorkers, most of them women, as they make their way through life wondering about their moral and familial responsibilities, their beauty (of course), and the sum of their worth in the world. Heavy ideas, explored through characteristic Holofcener characterization, all made lighter by a comic touch and a sense of human fallibility at its best.
It was good. But not that good.
Part of me wants to let Holofcener get away with a mediocre movie about funny, interesting, women because, hell, there aren’t enough of them. The writing was clever. The acting was great. Woody Allen gets to do it all the time, why shouldn’t Holofcener? But at the same time, I have to admit that I really expect more from a filmmaker–female or male–who chooses to tackle some of these themes. Kate, played by the awesome Catherine Keener, spends much of the money handing 20 dollar bills to homeless dudes (or those she mistakes for them), mindlessly searching for volunteer opportunities, and feeling guilty about the way she makes her living (poaching valuable modern furniture off of unsuspecting loved ones after someone has died). The viewer is really lured in to expect some kind of big reward for watching such an ungraceful, albeit familiar, search. I want spoil the ending by telling you what you get, but let’s just say it falls far short of a genuine insight.
I thought New York Times reviewer Manhola Dargis summed it up nicely: “Men might not make women happy here, but left to their own devices, women tend only to make one another unhappy.” Not exactly the kind of catharsis I was hoping for.