Waitress Wonderfully Bittersweet
Equal Parts Lighthearted and Heartbreaking Waitress is Worth Seeing
Director/writer Adrienne Shelly's last film is a masterpiece, deftly handling touchy topics with a quirky cast of characters and a self-aware sense of humor.
On the surface, Waitress appears to be about a woman who is abused by her husband and ends up having an affair with a married doctor. But if Waitress has any underlying theme, it’s about digging below the surface and seeing things from a different viewpoint.
The central viewpoint of the film belongs to Jenna (Keri Russell), a waitress at the small-town Joe’s Pie Diner, who is known for her creative pie recipes. Suspecting she may be pregnant, she takes a home test with her two best friends, also waitresses in the diner, standing by her side. When the second line turns pink, it’s not a happy occasion for Jenna, who was secretly stowing away tip money to run away from her abusive husband, Earl (Jeremy Sisto).
When she meets the town’s handsome new doctor, she becomes unnerved for two reasons: the fact that everybody but herself seems overjoyed about the baby; and the fact that sparks are flying from the start between her and Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion).
She soon embarks on an affair with the good doctor, who also happens to be married, and for the first time, Jenna discovers what it’s like to be loved and wanted for who she is.
The lust thing seems to be catchy, though, as her fellow employees embark on new relationships themselves. Becky (Cheryl Hines), the tough-talking one of the bunch, is in an illicit hot affair of her own, as is the also married manager of the diner, Cal (Lew Temple). Meanwhile, ditzy Dawn (played wonderfully by Shelly herself), is being pursued by Ogie (Eddie Jemison), a man she met on a five-minute date who is determined to woo her with his improvised poetry.
This film could easily be a hard-hitting drama, but Shelly, who was tragically murdered shortly after the movie finished filming, has crafted a bittersweet-yet-satisfying romantic comedy in Waitress. A large part of that is due to the wonderful cast she assembled to bring her characters to life.
Russell is perfect as the woman who yearns for a new, simpler, life and finds that every day hers gets more complicated. To cope, she channels her angst through inventing new pie recipes, such as "I Don't Want Earl's Baby" pie (a quiche of smoked ham and brie) and "I Can’t Have No Affair Because It’s Wrong And I Don’t Want Earl To Kill Me Pie" (vanilla custard with banana...hold the banana.). This brings a nice levity to some of the scenes.
Fillion, channeling his charming and sweet everyman persona, is just as delightful as the new man in Jenna’s life. He is swept up by her and, in turn, serves as an unexpected anchor for Jenna’s transformation. It’s actually Fillion who brings a lot of heart to the movie, and the sizzling chemistry between him and Russell onscreen makes the affair seem sweet instead of creepy. After all, who can argue with a man who just wants to hold you for twenty minutes for no other reason than you need him to?
Often bringing levity to otherwise serious scenes, Hines and Shelly are perfect foils for the often obstinate nature of Russell’s character. They both fully embrace the quirky aspects of their characters without making them into caricatures, which is often a fine line. And I found legendary actor Andy Griffith hilarious as the cantankerous Joe, of “Joe’s Pie Diner,” who keeps an eye on Jenna and the rest of the staff with his daily visits.
The only character I wasn’t completely sold on was that of Earl. I get that the character wasn’t supposed to be likeable, but in Sisto's efforts to make Earl’s actions at least understandable, he made the character a bit too flat. I just couldn’t find any reason why Jenna would have stayed with Earl so long. Even with no money to her name, surely she could have found someone to stay with until she got on her feet.
But Earl is only a small part of the movie and in the end, you realize that what seemed on the surface a story about abuse and affairs is really a story about coming into one’s own and having the inner strength to rise above what’s holding you back. This nine month slice of Jenna’s life mirrors everyone’s struggles to decide what defines them as human beings. And it does so with a poignant sense of humor.
Part romantic comedy, part quirky slice of life, Waitress is definitely a piece of cinematic pie worth tasting.
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WAITRESS
Directed and written by Adrienne Shelly
Starring: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Jeremy Sisto, Cheryl Hines, Adrienne Shelly, Lew Temple, Eddie Jemison, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith
Rated: PG-13
Websites: foxsearchlight.com/waitress/ and waitressmovie.net
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