Please Give

A great cast comes together in writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s sometimes touching, often funny, and appropriately awkward film about a New York couple (Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt), their vintage furniture store, their relationship with their daughter (Sarah Steele), and the temporary neighbors next door (Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet). The movie feels like vintage Woody Allen at times, and it’s great to see the likes of Platt and Peet given some good, meaty parts. Peet does especially nice work as an obviously angry woman who turns her negativity into brash, in-your-face humor. The always reliable Keener and Hall deliver terrific performances as a two women slightly unsure of themselves and their places in the world. Steele is a true standout as the daughter with troubled skin and intolerance for her mother’s charitable yearnings. There’s a lot going on in this movie, and while not all of it works, much of it does.