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Directed and written by: Adrienne Shelly
Cast: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto
Rated: PG-13
Chick flicks come and go, but some can reach deep into one's heart, leaving an indelible print. Who knows, maybe what makes Waitress so touching and poignant may have to do with the fact that director, writer and actress Adrienne Shelly was brutally murdered, before she had the chance to enjoy the fruits of her labors. Maybe it's because the movie is slightly similar to Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, which spawned a relatively successful TV Series back in the mid-seventies. Perhaps the reason why Waitress tugs at one's heartstrings is simply because it portrays a part of life that exists and does so in a painfully real way.
Keri Russell, once known for playing the title role on the show Felicity, plays the part of Jenna, a young struggling waitress at Joe's Pie Restaurant. She and her co-workers/friends, Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Adrienne Shelly), faithfully serve all who patron the diner, while putting up with the manager's insensitive whip cracking.
Jenna puts the "pie" in Joe's Pie Restaurant by creatively inventing countless kinds of pies, from innumerable combinations and permutations of ingredients. The names for these pies are even more inventive than the pies themselves. Inspired by incidents, feelings, worries and every other uncontrollable condition in her life, Jenna somehow never seems to miss the mark when it comes to making a delectable dessert.
Jenna knows she has a gift, so she decides to enter the County Pie Bake Off, where the grand prize is enough to win her a new life. There's only problem with Jenna's plan...well actually there's a few. First, Jenna is pregnant with a baby she doesn't want. Second, her overbearing, over-controlling husband doesn't know she's pregnant, and she has every intention of keeping it a secret for as long as it's physically conceivable (I mean, possible—pardon me).
The last problem, probably the most hindering, is that her husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto) is completely against her entering the competition.
Earl is needy with self-esteem problems, and his only goal in life is keeping Jenna from achieving hers. When it comes to being a stereotypical, good-for-nothing, wife-beating, backwoods, low-life, Earl is as delectable to loathe as Jenna's pies are to love. Perhaps, it is Earl's insecurities that make him keep Jenna from living up to her full potential. He is forever reminding her that he is the one that feeds her, clothes her and keeps a roof over her head, but he forgets that she works too, and any money she makes, she hands over to him...well...maybe not all of it.
Jenna's saving graces are her co-workers, Becky and Dawn, who have their own issues to contend with. Becky is self-conscious about her breasts, claiming that they are uneven. She insists one hangs much lower than the other, although no one else sees it. According to Becky, if she had a map of the United States' Northeast coast tattoo-ed to her chest, one boob would be in Maine, while the other would be hanging out at South Beach!
Dawn has troubles too, mostly in the dating department. That's because her philosophy and approach to dating is, well, less-than-par for most.
Ironically, it is Jenna's OB/GYN, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) with whom she strikes up an incendiary love affair. This relationship helps her get past a mundane, and often domestically violent, life. When Earl isn't physically hitting her, he's emotionally attacking her. More so than not, it's the latter that leaves the more painful wounds and jagged scars.
During Jenna's pregnancy, she keeps insisting that she wants nothing to do with being a mother. She runs the gamut of normal concerns by all mothers-to-be. Strangely enough, it is Joe the crotchety, nit-picky owner of the restaurant (Andy Griffith) who helps her see that, where there is life, there is hope. This cliche is strongly reflected after her baby is born.
As we watch Jenna reach the end of her very dark tunnel, we come to understand that you don't necessarily have to have the "big pie in the sky" to enjoy a little slice of heaven.
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! npeakgfqosk Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! npeakgfqosk I've not seen this one, but it sounds like one that I should see, maybe with a friend the mirrors "jenna" a little too closely. |
