Theatrical Review of Waitress

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In the wake of writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelly´s death, her final film, "Waitress," has morphed from a "Little Miss Sunshine"-type feel good story into something more: a testament to a filmmaker cut down in her prime. Starring Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines and Jeremy Sisto, "Waitress" demonstrates a spunk and heart we won´t see from Shelly again.

In a small town, Jenna (Russell) is a master pie maker: she dreams up new recipes to go along with that day´s mood. While she is lauded for her skills by the patrons of the pie diner where she works, Jenna´s home life is less positive. Her husband Earl (Sisto) keeps her on a tight leash, taking her money the minute she gets into the car after her shift. When Jenna learns she´s pregnant and realizes a man should treat her like a person, courtesy of new doctor Jim Pomatter (Fillion), she has a decision to make for not only her future, but also for her new daughter.

The charm of "Waitress" isn´t in elaborate camera moves or splashy special effects. It doesn´t rely on A-list stars to draw the audience in and it´s not a franchise flick. Rather, it´s the interaction between the characters and the actors who play them which is the main draw. Russell, Hines and Shelly play the three waitresses at Joe´s Pie Diner and have a relationship which reminds one of the 1970s TV show "Alice": Russell´s Jenna is the straight-laced and responsible Alice, the one everyone expects to be upstanding (though they admit they don´t want to be her); Becky (Hines) resembles the kiss-my-grits Flo, loud and bombastic with a vulnerable side; and Dawn (Shelly) should be compared to Vera, mostly reserved and quiet, but loyal to the end.

These women make up the backbone of the film, though it´s Jenna´s journey the camera follows. The fact neither of the girls wants to be Jenna is highlighted after Earl picks his wife up by blasting the car horn to announce himself. It´s an act he repeats time and again throughout the film, at first funny and eccentric but quickly becoming something Jenna (and the audience) dreads. Earl is violent toward Jenna once in the film, which sends a shockwaves through her and everyone watching. How can a man with a beautiful wife and a baby on the way act the way he does? When he makes Jenna promise not to love the baby more than she loves him, we know she has to get out of this situation. If there is one aspect of the film that is overplayed, it is the relationship between Earl and Jenna.

We get he is not a good person and is a very clingy, very needy man. We understand the pain Jenna goes through when she climbs into the car every night. We don´t hold it against her when she stashes money throughout the house to enter a pie contest. And certainly when he crashes a wedding at the diner, it´s the last straw. It feels as though Shelly wanted to pound it into the audience´s head that Jenna is too good for Earl. That much is obvious, though, the minute Russell and Sisto share a scene. Here is a beautiful, radiant woman who wouldn´t hurt a fly married to-essentially-a child to whom temper tantrums are acceptable. If this life is so bad, why don´t any of the people in this town-Dawn, Becky, Cal the cook, Joe the owner-take her out of it? Why don´t any of them stand up to Earl when he comes barreling into the wedding, considering his rage and Jenna´s pregnancy? Certainly a case could be made for a restraining order or psychological abuse.

Ah well, Earl isn´t perfect and neither are the other characters. Except Dawn. The least conventionally pretty of the female characters, she has the purest heart and stays on the straight and narrow. When Jenna begins secretly having sex with the new-and married-Doctor Pomatter, the amount of understanding the audience has for her situation drops. Not that she should be happy with her marriage to Earl; if she is going to take the moral high ground, she needs to be able to claim it without her fingers crossed behind her back. She can´t, though the ending of movie makes up for it. Maybe it´s inevitable in a small town like this one everyone is incestuous with each other. It doesn´t matter, apparently, if these people are married or what their situation is; they will sleep with each other. It´s the one positive trait about Earl: he´s faithful to Jenna.

I couldn´t help but think a companion tie-in opportunity would be a book of Jenna´s pie recipes. There are certainly enough of them to make any cook happy. A concoction with marshmallows, lots of banana creations, chocolate on top of chocolate, a new variation on pumpkin pie…why hasn´t Fox thought about this ancillary revenue stream? Maybe it´ll come out with the DVD in a couple months?

One of the downfalls of this film--and it is shared by a great many other comedies--is the lack of humor in the second half. The first hour or so is full of funny, laughter inducing moments (like the awkwardness between Pomatter and Jenna, which, mercifully, ends not a moment too soon) and then the second concerns itself with the drama between Earl and Jenna. Humor needs to be spread out through the film so the heavy moments aren´t so heavy and the light ones don´t threaten to fly away like air-filled bubbles. As for the ending, it´s unbelievable in many respects, though I am loathe to comment any further on it. Let me just say for a man as needy as Earl seems to be, he takes the resolution rather well.

The performances in "Waitress" are uniformly solid, none more surprising than Russell. In many ways, she is a battered woman and for every second she´s on the screen, we believe it. While it is a stretch for us to accept a woman this beautiful with such a talent for baking to be stuck in a dead end marriage and a seemingly dead end town, she is just a joy to behold. She has a low-level chemistry with Fillion, though he is the weak link in the cast. He´s not bad to watch, but with the other characters talking in "improper" English and based on his previous role as Captain Malcolm Reynolds in "Firefly" and "Serenity," we can´t help but expect him to do the same. A younger actor would have been more believable in the role, especially playing against Russell.

Special mention should be made of Andy Griffith in the role of Joe, a successful businessman who owns the diner, a gas station, supermarket and other establishments. He´s only featured in a couple scenes, but in those scenes (primarily with Russell), we feel like anything can come out of his mouth. It´s obvious he is relishing the role and just being on the set; there´s a twinkle in his eye that´s unexpected. Here´s to hoping Griffith gets called a bit more for supporting roles in movies like "Waitress."

It´s not perfect as some critics have suggested, nor am I fawning over "Waitress" because of the Shelly tragedy. This film was on my list of most anticipated movies of the summer and it mostly delivers. Better than any of the big budget spectacles already released this summer and most of the films to hit the screen this year, "Waitress" rates a 6.5 on the scale of 1 to 10. Different storylines for Cal and Becky (unspoiled in this review) and slightly more focus on the pies would have raised the score. Still, a fine summer film and, thus far, one of the most enjoyable of the year.

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