Waitress
It’s a wonderful tribute to its’ creator that Adrienne Shelly’s “Waitress” is able to inspire enough goodwill on its’ own that the untimely death of its’ writer-director-costar in November is almost an afterthought, a grim reminder that she’ll never make another film, an unfortunate thought for those of us taking notice of her talent for the first time here. When I went to start the film over the couple of days after I watched it, beguiled by its’ warm wit and heart, I enjoyed starting it for reasonably full theatres (granted, it’s one of our smallest, but that didn’t take anything away from it for me), a look at how smartly Fox Searchlight (who made a Best Picture nominee of last year’s equally-engaging “Little Miss Sunshine”) has done in translating good advanced buzz and reviews into what will likely be a quiet hit for anyone looking for a break from the weekly blockbuster brawls. This is how you counterprogram in the season of big cinema; I felt in the audience that word-of-mouth will be strong for this film.
Let’s get to the film, though. One of the things that makes Shelly’s movie so enjoyable to watch is that- while it has a clear star in “Felicity” star Keri Russell- it’s a true ensemble film, with many stories to tell, none of which feel short-shrifted in spite of the 100-minute running time. It’s got its’ share of cornball jokes and predictable predicaments, but it’s treatment is as fresh as one of its’ protagonists’ fresh-baked pies. That protagonist is Jenna, a waitress in a small-town pie shop who’s married to a selfish and domineering husband (Jeremy Sisto, able to show the character’s obvious insecurities without spelling them out for the audience), and secretly hiding away money so that she may be able to enter a national pie contest, and maybe even win, giving her a fresh start without her husband to drag her down. Her fellow waitress friends Becky (“RV’s” Cheryl Hines, a tangy, quick-witted pleasure) and Dawn (the mousy and endearing Shelly herself, who’s got some relationship issues of her own when an obsessed blind date suitor- played by “Ocean’s Eleven’s” Eddie Jemison as comically, but humanely, crazy) have faith in her. The problem is, said husband has gotten our Jenna pregnant one drunken night- once he finds out, there’s no way he’ll let her go. The plot thickens further, as we tend to say, when she falls in love with her OB-GYN Dr. Pomatter (“Serenity’s” Nathan Fillion- late of Fox’s exciting action series “Drive,” boneheadedly axed after four terrific episodes- further proving himself a God amongst men for the everyman appeal and natural humor he brings to the role), who’s new in town and just replaced her former doctor, now semi-retired. You can guess where the story goes from there…I can’t promise you’ll always be right, though.
Shelly’s writing has the mark of a natural storyteller, comfortable with the blend of comedy and drama required of the story, able to put the spotlight on a single character while also making everyone around them an important element of the story. That includes a small role for Lew Temple as Cal, the pie shop’s manager who- in a few brief moments- makes the obvious supporting role interesting enough to want to follow their story through (but not enough to make it disappointing that we don’t learn more), and a bigger role for Andy Griffith as Old Joe, the owner of the pie shop who’s trades curmudgeonly barbs on a daily basis with Jenna but is capable of unexpectedly tender advice when she needs it most; if he’s not in the running for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar come January, I’ll be quite disappointed, ’cause he makes every second onscreen count for something.
Same goes for Keri Russell as Jenna for Best Actress. As a non-watcher of “Felicity” while it was on the air, all I really had to go on for a guide to Russell’s talent was her small roles in “The Upside of Anger” and “Mission: Impossible 3”- not really a good primer. No matter; Russell has a natural screen presence as Jenna, and is at once capable of being both weighed down by her pregnancy- she asks Dr. Pomatter to not congratulate her- while also loving of her charge- in the letters she writes in a baby book she gets from Becky and Dawn- in a way that only a mother can be. Her expression of Jenna’s moods through the pies she makes- with names like Pregnant Miserable Self-Pitying Loser pie (and shown in overhead shops in quick creation with Russell’s engaging voiceover- and her interactions with each of the supporting actors (a diverse bunch of personalities) show her as a star-in-the-making on the big screen. You watch every moment of this film rooting for her. Ultimately, the biggest tribute to “Waitress'” gifted writer-director-costar will be if Russell can capitalize off of Shelly’s final film- by far one of the most enjoyable in a reasonably mediocre year thus far- as the starting point towards a film career as rich to watch as Shelly’s apparently was. Yup, I’m one of those people who didn’t know of her until this film; “Waitress” solidifies that I’ll know a lot more about her career after her final film, though.
