A Manhattan woman struggles with loneliness in the face of her best friend's imminent marriage in this well-received independent comedy from first-time writer-director Nicole Holofcener. Amelia (Catherine Keener) feels isolated because her friend Laura (Anne Heche) has been devoting all her time to preparing for her upcoming wedding. Desperate, she resorts to the unthinkable: dating the nerdy, Fangoria-obsessed clerk at her local video store (Kevin Corrigan). This discouraging encounter, along with some awkward conversations with her former boyfriend, leave her even more depressed and jealous of Laura's good fortune. However, Laura soon reveals that she is having her own doubts about her future.
Featuring a cast made in indie film heaven, Walking and Talking may bear a more accurately descriptive (and sublimely humorous) title than almost any film out there. With that plain-as-beans name, promising new director/screenwriter Nicole Holofcener takes an affectionate poke at the essence of what independent film should be: interesting characters having conversations and, well, walking around. Her debut gets by on the strength of this engrossing naturalism. The effortless repartee between Amelia (Catherine Keener) and Laura (Anne Heche) carries the smart script, which charts the pitfalls of single-life existence in the big city with the best of them. Like most films of its ilk, nothing of consequence really happens, but that's the point —- this is what normal life would look like if you knew people who were just a bit funnier and more eloquent. Indie staple Kevin Corrigan also shines as the oddball curiosity who propels parts of the minimal plot. His harsh passive rejection reminds Laura and Amelia that while New York may be a laboratory for their sarcastic observations, the lab rats have feelings, too.
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Walking and Talking
