Rating: 
Summary: The Brilliant wonder of Catherine Keener Shines in this pick
Review: This is the film that introduced me to the wonderment of Catherine Keener, Liv Schreiber and Anne Heche. Plus it has the ultra cool, funny Kevin Corrigan. A film about 20's somethings and their relationships and what happens when you feel you are losing your best friend to an impending wedding. Catherine Keener plays a neurotic woman who has no idea what she wants out of a relationship, so she relies heavily on her best friend (Heche) and her ex-boyfriend and male best friend (Schreiber). They are there to comfort her and are outlets to express her doubts on love and life. But one of her outlets is about to get married and she has a hard time adjusting to that fact. It's a good story about life in your 20's. There is a wonderful appearance by Kevin Corrigan who just steals most of the scenes he is in. It's not over the top acting (as you get in your better known dramas) and its not just caricatures... It's just a little low-budget film with some really good acting. The right amount of acting that is required for a film of this quality. And I found it rather enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: The Brilliant wonder of Catherine Keener Shines in this pick
Review: This is the film that introduced me to the wonderment of Catherine Keener, Liv Schreiber and Anne Heche. Plus it has the ultra cool, funny Kevin Corrigan. A film about 20's somethings and their relationships and what happens when you feel you are losing your best friend to an impending wedding. Catherine Keener plays a neurotic woman who has no idea what she wants out of a relationship, so she relies heavily on her best friend (Heche) and her ex-boyfriend and male best friend (Schreiber). They are there to comfort her and are outlets to express her doubts on love and life. But one of her outlets is about to get married and she has a hard time adjusting to that fact. It's a good story about life in your 20's. There is a wonderful appearance by Kevin Corrigan who just steals most of the scenes he is in. It's not over the top acting (as you get in your better known dramas) and its not just caricatures... It's just a little low-budget film with some really good acting. The right amount of acting that is required for a film of this quality. And I found it rather enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Warm funny wonderful movie
Review: This movie catapulted Holofsen into the top ranks of movie directors in my book. The acting is superb all around, not show-offy or coy but real & many-layered. I've watched this movie several times & never grown tired or bored of watching Heche & Keener - they are fine musicians playing complex elegant intricate duets. The range of emotions that play over their faces is awesome. What this movie reminds me of the most is the films of Eric Rohmer (whose work I have enormous admiration for). The only other American film of recent years that came close to it was Joan Micklin Silver's Chilly Scenes of Winter (AKA Head Over Heels), another of my favorites. Curious too that Anne Heche who played Laura in this reminded me of Mary Beth Hurt who played Laura in that.Some rare movies are a true snapshot of a certain time & a place. This movie is one of those & will be a classic in decades to come.
Rating:
Summary: good NYC relationship movie
Review: This movie surprised me, mostly because I'd never heard of it before. But I caught it on HBO and was pleasantly surprised. The movie is about friendship, dating, and love set in New York City. Anne Heche and Catherine Keener play Laura and Amelia respectively. Laura just became engaged and as her life is changing her friendship is changing with her longtime pal Amelia. Meanwhile Amelia is trying to find love and is envious of her friend and it seems nothing is going right for her. Also in the film are Todd Field (In the Bedroom's director) who plays Heche's financee and Liev Shrieber who plays Keener's friend. The movie is quirky and funny and sad and makes a lot of sense of relationships.
Rating:
Summary: good NYC relationship movie
Review: This movie surprised me, mostly because I'd never heard of it before. But I caught it on HBO and was pleasantly surprised. The movie is about friendship, dating, and love set in New York City. Anne Heche and Catherine Keener play Laura and Amelia respectively. Laura just became engaged and as her life is changing her friendship is changing with her longtime pal Amelia. Meanwhile Amelia is trying to find love and is envious of her friend and it seems nothing is going right for her. Also in the film are Todd Field (In the Bedroom's director) who plays Heche's financee and Liev Shrieber who plays Keener's friend. The movie is quirky and funny and sad and makes a lot of sense of relationships.
Rating:
Summary: low key and likeable
Review: Writer/director Nicole Holofcener's film is low key and likeable. It's about the friendship between student therapist Laura (Ann Heche) and editor Amelia (Catherine Keener) which is tested when Laura announces her engagement to ringmaker Frank (Todd Fisher). Heche and especially Keener give such natural and inventive performances that draw you in to these women's seemingly small concerns - Laura is scared of being attractived to other men in spite of her engagement, and Keener's cat has cancer, sleeps with the video guy and is still friends with her ex, Andrew (Lieb Schrieber). The lighting is sometimes careless. Skin tones tend to become red in some scenes for no reason and the only visually interesting part is seeing how much Heche looks like Grace Kelly in her wedding dress. But Holofcener writes characters with intelligence, sensitivity and humour and it can be refreshing to see relationships that aren't tortured by dramatics. This is one of the indie films like Living in Oblivion that pushed Keener into later mainstream success in titles like Your Friends and Neighbours, and Being John Malkovich, though her performance in 8MM is best passed over.
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