A modest debut, Walking and Talking nonetheless bears all the markings of the exquisitely observed relationship dramedies that writer-director Nicole Holofcener would go on to make (Friends with Money, Enough Said). Catherine Keener and Anne Heche star as lifelong friends whose tight bond is being tested by young adulthood—and particularly by the men who have moved into their shared personal space. The self-critique on the part of the characters is witheringly funny (answering machines often serve as confessional booths), especially in the hands of Keener. Her Amelia is the goofier, more impulsive, and less “marriageable” of the pair, a sometimes paralyzingly self-conscious single woman whom Keener plays without a trace of self-consciousness. Holofcener has written some sharp dialogue, but Keener hardly needs it. Twisting her lips, widening her eyes, letting loose that rumbling laugh—she’s as good as anyone at using facial expressions to express emotion and character. Heche lends strong support, as do Liev Schreiber, Todd Field, and Kevin Corrigan as men working through their own issues alongside the two women.
