Hot, Fresh, and Tasty
Waitress Serves Up a Slice of Life
Films such as Babette's Feast, Big Night, and Chocolat have used food as a metaphor for life. In Waitress, director Adrienne Shelly extends that metaphor, using the baking process as a metaphor for the creation of life. This delicious new romantic comedy follows a woman trying to juggle a loveless marriage, an unwanted pregnancy, and a passion for baking pies.
Written by: Adrienne Shelly
Starring: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith, Adrienne Shelly, and Eddie Jemison
Rated
(for
sexual content, language and thematic elements)Running time: 107 min.
FilmGuru's Rating : 8 out of 10.
Keri Russell stars as Jenna, a smart, sassy waitress in a small town diner. A genius at baking pies, she dreams of entering the national pie contest with one of her out-of-this-world creations. But Jenna has more on her plate than pies. Trapped in an unhappy marriage to a controlling man, her life becomes complicated by an unexpected pregnancy.
At first, Jenna funnels her emotions into new recipes, like the "I Hate My Husband" pie and the "Pregnant Miserable Self-Pitying Loser" pie. Soon the pregnancy begins to change the course of her life. Jenna begins seeing the new town doctor (played by Nathan Fillion), and their funny unexpected flirting leads to an on-again off-again love affair.
Waitress avoids the Hollywood clichés about romance. Jenna is drawn to Dr. Pomatter not out of some need to be rescued, but because he feeds her confidence and becomes a true friend. The romantic tryst rebuilds Jenna's self-esteem, giving her strength during a vulnerable time.
Written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, Waitress is a story of unconditional love and finding inner strength. Written when Shelly was eight months pregnant, the story gives voice to fears of impending motherhood. Ultimately it is a love letter to her daughter, Sophie.
The film is filled with delightfully quirky and charming characters, from Jenna's co-workers, Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Shelly), to Old Joe, the curmudgeonly owner of Joe's Diner. Veteran actor Andy Griffith plays Old Joe, Jenna's most admiring customer. He dispenses grandfatherly advice to her, ostensibly from the horoscopes and letter columns of his favorite newspaper.
Music, too, plays an important part of the film. Whether hearing Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" every time Jenna is confronted with an unruly child, or hearing her sing "Baby Don't You Cry," a song her mother sang when teaching her to bake pies, the music plays an important part of the film. The score for the film was composed by relative newcomer Andrew Hollander.
Waitress was an audience hit at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The success is bittersweet, however. Director Adrienne Shelly died in 2006. The film is dedicated to her.
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