Waitress is Sweet and Piping-Hot
Keri Russell Puts Felicity Far Behind as a Small-Town Piemaker
Former Mouseketeer and "Felicity" star Keri Russell plays a waitress with a talent for making pies, but her love life always comes out half-baked.
As delectable as a well-made piece of pie, “Waitress” is a surprising springtime treat, thanks in no small part to an award-worthy performance from Keri Russell, the star of television’s “Felicity” and one incarnation of “The Mickey Mouse Club.” The former Mouseketeer permanently sheds her ears, however, to play the sweet and sassy title role.
Russell is Jenna, a waitress who works at a small-town diner that specializes in all kinds of pies. Trapped in a loveless marriage to a boorish husband named Earl (Jeremy Sisto), Jenna finds pleasure in making delicious pies, a skill that she learned by cooking side-by-side with her mother. She even gives each unique creation an unusual name, such as the “I Want to Divorce My Husband” pie.
Unfortunately, Jenna also is about six weeks pregnant with Earl’s baby, but as much as she despises her husband, she wouldn’t dream of terminating the pregnancy and heads off to see her gynecologist. Unfortunately, her regular doctor has mysteriously gone into semi-retirement, leaving her in the cold, nervous hands of Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion), the new OB-GYN in town.
Despite her pregnancy, Jenna still has plans to leave Earl and make a new life for herself. She squirrels away most of her tip money and hatches a scheme to enter a pie-making contest in another town. Jenna has socked away about $1200 and if she can win the contest, she might have enough money for her fresh start.
Those plans are temporarily derailed when she and Dr. Pomatter discover a mutual interest in each other. It isn’t long before Jenna is keeping very regular appointments with the good doctor, whose hands have now gotten a lot warmer. As Jenna's belly gets bigger, their secret affair gets even hotter.
Working from the brilliant script by the late Adrienne Shelly, who also directed, Keri Russell serves up line after line of mouth-watering dialogue. Cheryl Hines and director Shelly also provide excellent support as two other waitresses at the pie diner. Shelly was surprisingly good here playing a “plain Jane” type who finds love in an unexpected place.
Veteran actor Andy Griffith even shows up as Old Joe, the man who owns the diner and about half of the other businesses in town. Drawing upon his famous southern characters, Sherriff Andy Taylor and lawyer Ben Matlock, Griffith makes Joe sufficiently crusty, but it’s obvious there’s something soft and sweet underneath, especially where Jenna is concerned.
Served up piping hot, “Waitress” is so good that it doesn’t even need a scoop of ice cream.
“Waitress” is rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and thematic elements.
