I am not at all familiar with writer-director Adrienne Shelly, but after seeing her performance in Waitress, a film she also wrote and directed it is heartbreaking to learn that she was murdered only six months ago as her final film hits theaters. Waitress may not be a perfect film but it does have heart and it does its very best to avoid cliche, which is really its saving grace.
Based on the trailer you know this film about Jenna, a pregnant young pie-making waitress, played by Keri Russell is going to be a cute little romantic comedy. You can pretty much guess the plotline and throughout the whole film you know where everything is going. However, the bit characters played by Adrienne Shelly, Cheryl Hines and an energetic performance by the aging 80-year-old Andy Griffith make this film what it is.
Russell proves that she can carry a film and the two men in her life – dead beat husband Earl played by Jeremy Sisto and Nathan Fillion playing Jenna’s gynecologist Dr. Pomatter – provide the disturbing and the caring elements of the story. Sisto is altogether disgusting and Fillion continues to impress, I just wonder if he will ever find himself in a film or a TV show for that matter that will be considered a success so he can get some more pub. Fillion just saw his latest TV show “Drive” cancelled almost as soon as it started and then he tumbled down the box-office ladder with the well-reviewed but under performing Slither and Serenity. What gives?
As Jenna, Russell’s portrays a celebrated “pie genius” at Joe’s Pie Diner, and every day she comes up with a new pie, most often based on her mood and what is going on in her life. Whether it is “I Hate My Husband Pie” or “I Can’t Have No Affair Because It’s Wrong and I Don’t Want Earl To Hate Me Pie”, Jenna let’s out her frustration in her baking and people love her for it. The twist in this tale is the dead beat husband and the kind, yet married, doctor “helping” her through her unwanted pregnancy.
The best part about this film is that it never gets too soapy, it is designed more like a sitcom in which drama is built and comedy ensues, with the dirt never getting flung too far. The characters are easy to figure out and you know who you like and who you don’t, it’s as simple as that.
While I won’t personally miss Shelly as a filmmaker, actress or screenwriter she obviously had heart and knew how to make a movie people would enjoy. It would be hard to hate Waitress, the film is so likeable that while you won’t be walking out raving about it you will be hard pressed to say that you didn’t enjoy yourself.
