Movie Review: Waitress

Waitress (2007) 

Directed by Adrienne Shelley

Written by Adrienne Shelley

Starring Keri Russell, Jeremy Sisto, Cheryl Hines, Andy Griffith, Eddie Jemison, Lew Temple

Release Date May 2nd, 2007

Published May 2nd, 2007

Any murder is a tragedy but circumstances make some seem more tragic. The circumstances surrounding the murder of Adrienne Shelley are made more tragic by the completion of her very first signatory film Waitress. This lovely, thoughtful, warm and poetic effort starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion as star crossed lovers with a tart center gives the context of true tragedy to Shelley's death.

That some monster has robbed the world of such a wondrous, beautiful soul makes us all a little lesser. I can only assume that Waitress scratched the surface of Adrienne Shelley's talent and that thought is terribly sad. We can now only take comfort that while she was here. Adrienne Shelley and her art, her film,  made the world a little better place.

Jenna Hunterson (Keri Russell) is beautiful, whipsmart and the best darn piemaker you can imagine and yet, you would not want to be her. Jenna is married to Earl (Jeremy Sisto) a nasty lout whose needy, jealous nature is not merely irritating but dangerous. He wasn't like this when they were first married but since then he has become unbearable and Jenna wants nothing more than escape.

She has a plan. Using tips she has been hiding from him, Earl usually forces her to give him all of her money, she plans on sneaking off to a local pie contest with a pretty nice grand prize, enough money for Jenna to leave Earl for good. Unfortunately, there was that night, not long ago, where Earl got Jenna drunk and she made the mistake of sleeping with him.

This, unfortunately leads to Jenna getting pregnant; a development that makes getting away from Earl more difficult and more important. Along with the pregnancy, Jenna gets a new doctor, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) a fumbling, good natured, handsome sort who takes an immediate liking to Jenna and especially to her pies. Unfortunately, Dr. Pomatter is also married but that doesn't stop them from entering into a passionate affair that could change both their lives or not.

My description is deliberately offbeat because nothing about Waitress is in any way typical. Written and directed by Adrienne Shelley, Waitress is a character piece centered on this strong, smart, sassy young woman whose self analysis is as tart as her pies are sweet. Keri Russell invests Jenna with an inner strengtht that expresses itself with a hardcore self analysis.

When Jenna meets Dr. Pomatter it is not a typically passionate love at first sight situation. Rather, it is a slowly revealing affair of comfort and convenience. Jenna finds genuine caring for the very first time and seeing someone show her love without conditions attached awakens something within her that may allow her to become a good mother.

Jeremy Sisto as Earl gives Waitress a dark edge necessary for keeping the material from becoming too sweet or light. Sisto evinces a malevolent air with the way he breathes in short angry bursts and his constantly wounded speech that begs and warns Jenna to love him with dark urgency. This is a revelatory performance for Sisto who has been good in other movies, like May and the little seen TV show Kidnapped, but never as good as he is in Waitress.

The other scene stealer of Waitress is the legendary Andy Griffith. As the curmudgeonly pie shop owner Joe, you never really believe that he is the ornery old coot that he claims to be but it's fun listening to Andy Griffith try and seem nasty. It's part of the character that he is downbeat and easy to anger but his interaction with Jenna is pure and caring. This would be a lovely coda to the career of Andy Griffith, a performance that deserves serious Oscar consideration.

Casting a pall over Waitress is the murder of writer-director Adrienne Shelley. Her murder in her home in New York City was sad before Waitress was released, now we can see that it was a true tragedy. A tragedy for lovers of great art everywhere. Watching Waitress you can see the pure soul of an artist and the talent of true auteur.

Adrienne Shelley had so much talent and so much promise. Waitress is a masterpiece of tone, of offbeat characters, romance and humor. The film is insightful and soulful with a great heart. Few filmmakers, male or female, have made films with such depth and understanding of human nature and the needs of the heart versus the needs of practicality and reality.

My sadness over Ms. Shelley's death is matched only by the joy her movie gave me. Everything about Waitress is just delightful from the pitch perfect performance of Keri Russell to the beautiful pies that pop up as a foodie Greek chorus echoing the thoughts of Jenna as she deals with pregnancy, infidelity and her bastard husband.

At the end of the second act of Waitress Jenna and Dr. Pomatter have what Jenna describes as a perfect day. I won't go into the details because I want you to experience it for yourself, but I will tell you that these scenes capture the kind of romantic longing that some say film cannot capture as well as other artforms. If this series of scenes does not stir your soul, you simply don't have one. There is more beauty in ten minutes of this movie than in a dozen paintings, photographs, poems or symphonies.

There is no such thing as a perfect movie, but Waitress, for me, is nearly perfect. A delightful romance with wonderful characters, great humor and a great big heart. The joy it gives is underscored with tragedy because of the death of Adrienne Shelley but if she was destined to make one movie in her life, she really made it count.

Waitress is a smart, sassy, funny and sad love story about one woman coming terms with life and happiness on her own terms. That sounds cliche in description but to watch Waitress is to be touched by it and I definitely recommend that. You must see this movie.