Waitress

Fox Searchlight

CHERYL HINES, Keri Russell and Adrienne Shelly in"Waitress."


‘Waitress’ tasty as pies that dominate film
“Waitress” is a wonderfully warm and satisfying film, much as the pies that are a profound part of the narrative certainly would be.
The film centers on Jenna, played by Keri Russell. Jenna is married to an immature lout of a husband. She has saved $1,200 toward leaving him. But when the film opens, we, along with Jenna and her fellow waitresses, discover it is a bun — not a pie — in Jenna’s oven.
She concludes it must have happened the time her husband got her drunk, otherwise, she never would have had sex with him.
All of the characters in this ensemble comedy seem so real. They aren’t easily defined, the way people in a less-talented script would be.
Cheryl Hines is Becky, the oldest of the waitresses who shows her inferiority complex by suggesting one of her breasts sags. It doesn’t.
Adrienne Shelly plays Dawn, another waitress who is looking for a relationship. She goes on five-minute dates, so if the potential suitor is a loser, she won’t be sick all night.
Then there’s old Joe, played wonderfully by Andy Griffith. Joe Is a strange guy who is under the impression he owns the diner and gives meticulous instructions for his food. No ice in the water. The tomato on a separate plate.
There’s the restaurant owner, Cal, played by Lew Temple. For the first half of the film, his comments are confined to “Hurry up, there are customers out there” or “let’s get to work.”
But even Cal has more substance than you would think.
Jenna decides to take a pie to her family doctor, the one that delivered her. But she is surprised to find the doctor is semi-retired and a new, young physician, played convincingly by Nathan Fillion, has taken over. She grudgingly gives the new doctor the pie and control of her pregnancy.
The doctor falls in love with the pie and then with Jenna.
Indeed, the pies are a metaphor for art and humanity and expressionism in this film. Jenna’s disposition is reflected in what kind of pies she is thinking of making.
The sour pies are reserved for her husband, Earl, played by Jeremy Sisto, who when he finds out his wife is pregnant, makes her vow not to love the baby more than him.
Whatever ridiculous promise Earl demands of Jenna, she gladly, convincingly, repeats to him, even though we know she loathes the man, even though we wish she would tell him where he can go.
You never know where the film is going to take you and thatís part of the fun. And the colors of the pies, like colors you have never seen before.
The backstory of this film is even more interesting and tragic than the film itself.
The director, Adrienne Shelley, who also played one of the waitresses, was arguing with an immigrant working in a nearby apartment because she said he was making too much noise. This was right after filming had concluded.
He became angry and hit her, knocking her unconscious. Thinking she was dead, he dragged her into her own apartment and strung her up in her shower, making it look like a suicide.
The deception almost worked, except some New York detectives discovered unidentified sneaker prints in the bathroom and traced them to the immigrant. He was charged with manslaughter.
The DVD includes a tribute to Shelly, who was only 40 when she died.
Watching the film, you realize what a talent that was lost in that senseless killing.
Read previous Viper columns at videoviper.blogspot.com.

Waitress
• Rate PG-13 for sexual content and language
• Runtime: 108 minutes
• 3 1/2 stars out of 4

This appeared in Weekender April 4, 2008 in the Ashtabula Star Beacon.