Posted: 05/01/2007

Waitress

(2007)

by Hank Yuloff

Serving Up More Than Simple Vittles

You pull off the highway, after six hours of getting from here to there, and into a parking lot where the sign just says DINER. All you want is a break from the monotony, a couple cups of coffee, and a piece of whatever the server says is the blue-plate special. Only, to your surprise, the food is incredible and the service makes you tip the cost of the $5.95 meal.

Waitress is a lot like that meal. The trailer makes you think it will be a quirky little film about a woman who gets unexpectedly and unexcitedly pregnant. But you come out with a smile as big as that quota-heavy cop’s smile when he clocked you doing 88 in a 55 zone a few miles back.

Keri Russell (TV’s Felicity) stars as Jenna, a waitress in one of those aforementioned diners, who bakes pies with unusual names that help her mind escape the dreary normalcy of her life. Her husband got her drunk a few weeks back and “it” happened. See, girls: never, ever drink with your husband… It could have dire consequences.

She has plans to get away from this lowlife pond-scum, but like a perfect pie, it’s going to take a little bit of time in the oven to get all the ingredients to come together. Now that she is pregnant, it seems that we have the perfect nine-month window for this story (and the baby) to develop, so even though the movie has some drawn-out slow spots, there is a target end of the film, and we are willing to let director-writer-actress Adrienne Shelly go at her own pace.

Oh, goodness… Did I just say “director-writer-actress”? It’s the Unholy Trinity!!! Regular readers of my reviews (hey to Dad, Sharyn and a few assorted friends) will know that this usually triggers a nasty review and comments (see Dark Arc) that those people who do such things usually muck things up. But in this case, Shelly takes a supporting role, instead of the lead, and does a tremendous job with all three roles.

Jeremy Sisto (HBO’s Six Feet Under) plays Earl, the husband. The best description of Earl I can give you is “Have you ever seen a couple together and the man was an ignorant, belittling, making-up-for-lack-of-self-confidence-by-bullying-the-woman-who-was-codependent-enough-to-stay-with-him-even-after-he-slapped-her asshole?” I swear to god, when he hits Russell, I almost came out of my chair in the theater. Okay, so I guess Sisto did a good job.

The rest of the ensemble cast makes for a great ensemble effort, led by legend Andy Griffith and Nathan Fillion (Serenity), who plays a doctor with more for her on his prescription pad than vitamins. Also of note is the soundtrack—an eclectic mix of styles that keeps the mood going. The one negative I have is that there seems to be four ending points before the credits roll. Okay, so many good meals need a couple of Tums™ help them settle in.

So wrap this one up in a to-go box so you can enjoy a second (or third) helping. It will be our little secret.

Hank Yuloff is a film critic living in Los Angeles.

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