Walking and Talking

WALKING AND TALKING - DVD Movie

The winsome and underappreciated Catherine Keener plays Amelia, an unattached New York City cutie living uncomfortably in the shadow of her best friend Laura (Anne Heche). But Laura has problems of her own--including professional insecurities and dwindling sexual interest in her nice-guy fiancé. Not by any means a sidesplitting Generation X comedy, Walking and Talking is the sort of film that relies on bittersweet irony to generate sympathy for its characters. Director Nicole Holofcener leans heavily on the intrinsic pathos, alienation, and insecurity of young adulthood, employing the obligatory well-screened answering machines, meaningless telephone relationships, and lonely nights of video rentals to make her point. Without question, Holofcener should have spent more time elaborating the relationship between her characters--we're never sure why they put up with each other, or why any of them became friends in the first place. We're shown the dysfunctional side of these relationships, but never given a reason to understand them as anything other than hopelessly compromised. Nevertheless, the performances (particularly Heche's) are always heartfelt, the writing is bright without resorting to cleverness, and almost every scene strains admirably for meaning and resonance. --Miles Bethany