Waitress
Jenna is a pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep south. She meets a newcomer to her town and falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness.
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- Cast:
- Keri Russell , Nathan Fillion , Andy Griffith , Cheryl Hines , Eddie Jemison , Jeremy Sisto , Adrienne Shelly
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Reviews
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Powerful
Fresh and Exciting
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Waitress could have turned into a middling mess, or something with characters that are hard to like (or, I should really note, sociopathic) if done in a more hard-lined Hollywood 'rom-com' assembly-line output (in 2007 those were still done). But Adrienne Shelley was more, for lack of a less precise word-choice, sweet-hearted about her characters. Even the villain of the story, and he is a villain who stands firmly in the way of our hero Keri Russell, her character's husband played by Jeremy Sisto, takes a break (if only in the tiniest moments) to not be a scumbag and show how he too can be vulnerable and afraid.He surely shows his humanity the least - Sisto is scarily adept at making his Earl into a presence that's felt off camera too, if not more so - but Shelley had with Waitress a real chance to make a commercial picture and she took it. Prior to this she directed a couple of low budget independent films, and with this may have seemed to go 'mainstream'. The casting choices though are what count here especially; Russell carries so much screen presence that it's a wonder the lens doesn't make out with her before Nathan Fillion's Doctor does. And in small parts she gets things right too with Cheryl Hines as another waitress at the diner where Jenna serves and (especially, well, uniquely) makes pies, and Andy Griffith is the nice-but-demeaning water (he better get his two waters AND have time to read the horoscope!)There are times when the movie goes into perhaps being too 'cute' or 'quirky'; this is from the same studio, Fox Searchlight, that would a few months later put out another story of an uncertain-in-her-life young woman, Juno, and there's points this dips into being a story that is so light it might float away (or another way to put it on the other extreme is that it's a more grounded version of Pushing Daisies). And oddly enough if there's one part of the movie that doesn't work for me it's ironically Shelley's own sub-plot, where she's another waitress courted by a stone-cold Nebbish with a capital N, and who have an argument in the diner which kind of grinds the movie to a halt.But I can forgive (most of) that for how pure the relationship is between Russell and Fillion on screen; I wish I saw more of Nathan FIllion in movies, or at least in leads like this where he gets to develop a character and he shows us just enough to get to understand why he's doing the things he is. Or, on the reverse, not entirely know why, again this is from Jenna's point of view and that's crucial - we're seeing it through HER eyes, through the downtrodden hero we want to see get out of her loveless marriage. Though some parts are funny (scattered really), it's actually more of a drama with a light touch, and it feels harrowing at times in the scope of a low-middle class, blue collar existence: what does one do with the options presented, i.e. bad marriage, a baby on the way that may/may not be loved, and an affair that is hot but untenable?Russell guides all of these conflicts of the character beautifully, leading up to a conclusion that is genuine and moving. To a further point, knowing about the horrible circumstances outside of the production - Shelley was murdered just before the film was released, though it was finished at the time - makes the very ending a real lump-in-the-throat moment (or just cry your eyes out, go for it). Waitress wears its emotions on its sleeve, but it carries its sincerity along both in the writing and performances, so it's a tough film to ever put down all that much.
Waitress is a comedy-drama film written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, who also appears in a supporting role.Incidentally,it was the final film from actress/filmmaker.The movie debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah just months after the director was discovered dead in her New York City apartment -- the victim of a homicide.Keri Russell plays Jenna, a waitress living in the American South, who is trapped in an unhappy marriage with the abusive Earl,played by Jeremy Sisto. She works in Joe's Pie Diner, where her job includes creating inventive pies with unusual titles inspired by her life, such as the "Bad Baby Pie" she invents after her unwanted pregnancy is confirmed. Jenna longs to run away from her dismal marriage, and is slowly accumulating money to do so. She pins her hopes for escape on a pie contest in a nearby town, which offers a $25,000 grand prize, but her husband won't let her go. Her only friends are coworkers Becky and Dawn ,and Joe, the curmudgeonly owner of the diner and several other local businesses, who encourages her to begin a new life elsewhere.Jenna's life changes after she meets her new physician, Jim Pomatter,portrayed by Nathan Fillion.She fears that her dreams are all but dead when handsome Dr. Pomatter reveals that she is soon to become a mother. As Jenna begins penning a series of letters to her unborn baby, her life starts to change for the better in ways she never could have imagined. Adrienne Shelly's lasting legacy is this exquisite, engaging film about slices of life.The performances are more than satisfactory as Keri Russell is luminous as Jenna and Jeremy Sisto plays excellent as her abusive husband as he was able to make his abhorrent character relatable.Obviously,it is a small movie set in a small town, and features actors who were most famous for parts on the small screen. but nevertheless,it also just happens to be one of the more entertaining movies of the year.
Director/writer/actress Adrienne's jinxed misfortune (she was killed in a burglary at home) before releasing her second film in 2006 took on a critically unanticipated hype for this indie drama-comedy, starring a haplessly chirpy Keri Russell as the waitress and pie-baker, engrossed over 19 million dollars on the domestic box-office (versus its $2,000,000 budget). I was prejudiced to expect a comedic girl-gone-independent rousing story thanks to the bright-colored poster, multi-montages of garish pies, the risible characters (Hines and Shelly, two co-worker at the pie diner). But soon it was exposed that the film takes on a rather weighty route to probe a matter-of-fact escapism of Keri's character, Jenna's birth (with a new baby on her way) and rebirth (her own life) plan, opening her own pie diner and leaving his fiendish- tempered husband. Apart from all the emotional empathy towards Adrienne, the film calls upon a solid soap-opera plot wisdom to embroider Jenna a down-to-earth plight till an energy- accumulated outburst strikes back to take reprisal for all the miseries she has and also be feasible to a blithe ending. The film certainly possesses its own appeal to a more female-inclined demography, partial because of its not-so-subtle feminism by manufacturing a loathsomely sadistic husband, an adorable but weak-willed married gynecologist as the tryst fantasy, also a wealthy but eccentric old geezer who Jenna befriends with (no spoilers alert, also to render some explicable getaway for the revitalization of her new-born life and baby). Keri Russell acts in her comfort zone and by far it is her best work to widen her realm as a leading character, it's a shame that her recent films are not so-well-received, she is in my top 10 list of BEST ACTRESS in 2007, also R.I.P. Adrienne, may you have peace in heaven!
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.