The estate sale on the big screen

Today reading the Wall Street Journal I found out there is a new movie opening that sounds intriguing.

It is about estate sales!

The movie has a terrible title, "Please Give." That is a picture from it above. Amanda Peet, that is, though it looks just like me, shopping at an estate sale! Terrible title aside, the movie supposedly gets at things with which this Web log has been preoccupied, including the transition of items from owner to owner, the cycle of life and general matters of great import regarding life and death. We all consider such things, do we not? Of course we do.

Whether the movie confronts such glories of estate sales as Leonard Pennario records and autographed pictures of John Gilbert remains to be determined.

Alas, I will probably not determine it. Unfortunately aside from its estate sale plot line, and the fact that the Journal gave it a good review, the movie sounds pretty annoying to me.

It is about a Manhattan couple, annoying thing No. 1. They have a "querulous" young daughter named Abby, annoying thing No. 2. Also, the wife of the couple is this do-gooder who likes to hand things out to panhandlers, and perceived panhandlers, annoying thing No. 3. Too bad she was not in the library with me yesterday. There was an opportunity for her!

By the way one comment on that story came from my co-worker Mike Beebe. He encountered the same panhandler I did! Mike is a crime reporter who with our co-worker Maki Becker wrote the book "The Bike Path Killer." Think about that. Buffalo's library's situation is such that it gives even crime reporters pause.

Back to "Please Give." Eek, that title! That title is so annoying! We will make it annoying thing No. 4.

There are also two many people in this movie, from the sounds of it. Besides the couple it involves an eccentric crabby old lady -- annoying thing No. 5, in case anyone is counting -- and both the lady's granddaughters, who from the likes of it are annoying things Nos. 6 and 7. One granddaughter is a social worker. There is annoying thing No. 8! I hate it when movies include too many plots. There is usually only one that you care about.

In the case of this movie that one is estate sales.

Why couldn't they just stick with that?