Waitress (2007)

Wonderful character development!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It started promising... hearing that Keri Russell and Nathan Filion were the protagonists. Jenna is a brilliant baker who works as a waitress and has a miserable life next to her self-absorbed, selfish, violent and horrible husband. And things get worse - she gets pregnant and falls in love with her obstetrician (who is also married, of course). Bad plot, bad development of a (somehow) promising idea. Even the acting is kind of dull. Of course it has a nice ending, with Jenna leaving her husband, getting an unexpected inheritance and living happily ever after with her daughter. But it's not enough to save this bad movie.Also...poor Joe, the owner of the dining place where Jenna works, dies and leaves her the inheritance. It seemed nice to keep the name of the place as it was (in Joe's memory), not to change it in Lulu's pie whatever... Just a little observation from a person who thought that the only nice thing of the whole movie was the postcard that Joe gave to Jenna.

Adrienne Shelly did a wonderful job of crafting, directing and acting in this amazing story of the lives of several people in a small town. Keri Russell is wonderful as Jenna who is a woman trapped in a loveless marriage with no hopes of anything for the future. Her abusive husband played by Jeremy Sisto (who did a wonderful job) showed the plight of the middle American woman and the anguish they suffer in a small town and the small minded egocentric self absorbed male that feels the woman is there to serve his needs and nothing more. Nathan Fillion was wonderful as the small town doctor that provided a ray of hope to his patient Jenna. He gave a glimpse of what is could be like to be wanted and loved. Cheryl Hines is great as Becky the hardened woman with an invalid husband who just wants more out of life. Adrienne Shelly is superb as Dawn. Her quirky character looking for love is priceless. Andy Griffith is great as Joe the cranky Pie Shop Owner who only wanted the life he could have had but always passed on. I would recommend this to anyone. This Tranche de vie is well worth watching. The cast is perfect and the script is wonderful. The sad part is that Adrienne was killed shortly after making this movie. It looked at first that she had committed suicide but later determined that she had been killed by a worker in her building. She caught him trying to steal from her purse and he killed her and made it look like a suicide. He later confessed to these facts. She left behind a husband and small daughter (who appears in the film). Perhaps more of a "chick flick" I would suggest this to anyone who loves a good movie. It will make you laugh and tear up and at the end it just works out.

The late Adrienne Shelly wrote, directed, and co-stars in this modest comedy wherein a small town pie-maker (who works as a waitress at the diner she makes desserts for!) considers leaving her abusive husband for her handsome--but already-married--obstetrician. To complicate matters, she finds she's pregnant for the first time (after the husband got her drunk one night), though this only seems to sweeten the pot for the doctor, who wants to run off with her anyhow. Keri Russell is very fetching and grounded in the leading role, but her character (who has been making delicious treats her entire life) comes off as an underachiever, with no money and no hope in turning her baking talents into a lucrative profession. Jeremy Sisto's angry, selfish husband fares no better; wouldn't he want his wife bringing home more money...or is he happy struggling along from paycheck to paycheck? The condition that he's so jealous he won't allow her to try for bigger prospects is a lazy, illogical out, and the scenes between husband and wife are both unpleasant and unconvincing. Shelly has created some engaging, folksy supporting roles (such as Andy Griffith's salty proprietor), but because the movie has only one foot in reality, the situations these people are involved in do not come to much. The humor is quirky-cute though not terribly funny, while the Southern milieu, the life in the diner, and the side-threads of romance each fail to come off. ** from ****

The story of a young pie cook and waitress, Jenna (played by gorgeous Keri Russell), who struggles to survive emotionally to the tyranny of a jealous and possessive husband in a small town in southern USA.I did not think it was an independent film worthy of Sundance, --where, however, triumphed--, but rather a Hollywood film. The film has an interesting script, but it's too pretentious as touches too many issues (domestic violence, loneliness, deception, creative cuisine, unwanted pregnancy, the need to escape the village and her husband to have a better life) but none of them deep enough or with enough originality.Several elements deserve praise. Firstly, the culinary part. The food and pastries that Jenna creates are an emotional expression of her daily mood and feelings, and the scenes connected with their preparation are beautifully presented, filmed with intimacy and warmth; it somewhat reminds me of the emotional food story presented in Like Water for Chocolate. Secondly, the relationship(predictable and many times told) between Jenna and the grumpy old man who owns the Cafe where she works, played by a delightful Andy Griffith. Thirdly, the dialogs between the three waitresses and their personal stories, really nice and funny, with that southern accent full of grammatical inaccuracies so charming! Finally, the unloving letters that Jenna writes to her unborn child. Moreover, the film has beautiful colors, a 1950s feeling in it too, and a great cheerfulness, that makes the watching very enjoyable.The three waitresses Keri Russell, Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelley) are great in their roles, but are Jeremy Sisto, as the insecure and jealous husband, and Griffith, the ones that really stand out and steal the show.