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WAITRESS (2007)



This one is mainly for the ladies out there. Waitress is a sweet, sassy, unconventional story set in one of those quirky small towns, where everyone knows each other's business and congregate at the local pie diner. The diner's star waitress is Jenna Hunterson (Keri Russell) because she has a gift; she can create the most delicious and inventive pies around. While everyone in the diner loves her, Jenna is unfortunately married to an asshole named Earl (Jeremy Sisto), one of the most unlikable movie characters I've ever come across, alternately abusive, controlling, whiny and groveling. He announces his presence everywhere he goes by deliberately honking his car horn FIVE TIMES as he approaches. Jenna, and everyone else in the movie, hates him, and she is planning her escape when she discovers she's pregnant. Unhappy about this development, but not willing to punish the baby for it, she resolves to carry the child and leave Earl before she starts to show. She visits the local clinic and has odd encounters with Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion, from TV's Desperate Housewives and Firefly), a nervous individual with whom she is destined to have an affair.

This has undoubtedly been the year of pregnancy in film - between this, Knocked Up and Juno, it very apparent that movies about women who are pregnant can be as diverse and varied as any other genre. None of these films are by the numbers Lifetime flicks. Waitress benefits from a wacky set of characters. In the diner, Jenna is comforted by Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (director Adrienne Shelly), sympathetic co-waitresses who wish they had Jenna's talent with pies, spend the film involved in their own mini-dramas, but do so with lots of love and good humor. Jenna also has Joe (Andy Griffith), a cranky client with insight into her affair and lots of friendly advice. And her relationship with Dr. Pomatter is unusual in the way they communicate. The scenes in which they begin their affair are oddly-timed, filled with humorous dialogue and delivery, and acted very well by the leads.

We also have lots of fun watching Jenna make her pies. Whenever she creates a pie in her mind, it is filmed from directly above, so we see each ingredient as it goes in, and hear Jenna change ingredients in mid-thought. She also has great fun naming her pies; we see previous creations Marshmallow Mermaid Pie, Falling in Love Pie, and Strawberry Chocolate Oasis Pie (Griffith has a great scene where he describes just how the flavors in this one complement each other), and we see her make-up I Hate My Husband Pie, I Can't Have No Affair Pie, and Bad Baby Pie, among others.

I've already boasted about Keri Russell's performance; she is truly wonderful. She takes this small part and this lively dialogue and runs with it. I used to watch her in "Felicity" and always assumed that was pretty much what she must be like in real life. But seeing her in this film, I know how wrong that was because this character is in no way like Felicity. She's still kind, but depressed, cynical, funny, and extremely un-analytical, the opposite of her previous character. Her reactions and line readings in the scenes with Dr. Pomatter are particularly creative. I have a weakness for films that are good-natured. As much as I love my bad boys, and all the great, questioning, searching films I see, there's just something comforting in coming home and watching a warm film with a happy ending, especially if it's done with as much wit, spirit and pluck as Waitress.