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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Waitress

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#1 of 2 Posted 4/25/07 11:01 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1632 Last Nov-2
To All [Msg # 22368.1 ]

    WAITRESS

Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Grade: A-
Directed by:    Adrienne Shelly
Written By: Adrienne Shelly
Cast:   Adrienne Shelly, Keri Russell, Jeremy Sisto, Nathan Fillion, Lew Temple, Cheryl Hines, Andy Griffith, Eddie Jemison
Screened at: Dolby 88, NYC, 4/25/07
Opens: May 2, 2007

If education is a race between education and catastrophe as someone once said, then one battle that was clearly lost affected Adrienne Shelly. The gifted writer, director and actress was brutally murdered last year in her Manhattan apartment by an ignorant handyman shortly before it was announced that her adorable film, “Waitress,” was accepted for screening at the January 2007 Sundance festival in Utah. “Waitress,” in which Ms. Shelly plays a small but poignant and comical part, features Keri Russell in the starring role, one which recalls a young Joan Allen just as Nathan Fillion, as the object of her passion, recalls Martin Donovan–and in fact the entire production brings to mind the precious deadpan humor of Hal Hartley. Since Ms. Shelly starred in “The Unbelievable Truth” and “Trust,” two of Hartley’s films, one might say that Hartley served for a time as a mentor to the gifted writer-director. His influence here is apparent.

If films like “American Beauty” and “Little Children” are obvious satires of suburban life, then “Waitress” can be taken as a parody of life in small-town U.S.A., though Shelly’s take is far less biting than that of Todd Fields and Sam Mendes. Jenna (Jeri Russell), the title waitress, knows there is something wrong with people who remain in a one-horse town like her, and in fact at one point she asks a handsome gynecologist, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) what he is doing there. (He’s here because his wife is finishing her residency.) Any viewer in the movie audience may wonder what Jenna is doing in the town. She may not have an M.D. but she must be one of the country’s best pie bakers, her talent for inventing ingredients that you’d not think would mesh captured by photographer Matthew Irving’s lenses–fit for Gourmet magazine any month. Joe’s Pie Shop? She should be baking for Aux petits soins in Lyons.

Unfortunately she is under the control of her boorish husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto), who takes her money and who, having made her pregnant during a rare, drunken night of sex, made her promise that she will not pay more attention to the baby than to him. Putting herself under the care of young and handsome Dr. Pomatter, she discovers a mutual attraction, has a brief passionate affair, confides in her two fellow waitresses, the mousy Dawn (Adrienne Shelly) and assertive Becky (Cheryl Hines), and pretends to listen to advice from the prescient old owner of the restaurant and half the town, Old Joe (Andy Griffith).

The film belongs to Keri Russell, whose display of deadpan comedy should steal audience hearts, minds, and every other working body part. She gets ample help from side roles, particularly from mousy Dawn, who gets attention only from Ogie (Eddie Jemison). Ogie is a nerdy guy head over heels in love with her after a five-minute date. Dawn at first finds him repellent, but he persists, recites doggerel spontaneously to her, and either wins her heart or breaks her down until she succumbs to whatever passes for his charm.

“Waitress” is inspired indirectly by Martin Scorsese’s 1974 movie “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More,” which garnered a best-actress Oscar for Ellen Burstyn. That was the story of Alice Hyatt, suddenly widowed after years of domesticity, who decides to travel to Monterey, California with her 11-year-old son Tommy to resume a singing career. In Phoenix, Arizona she gets a job singing at a piano bar and begins a relationship with Ben, who turns out to be married and a spouse abuser. The movie in turn led to Robert Getchell’s long-running TV sitcom “Alice,” 1976-85, which took place in a Phoenix diner, meeting place for blue-collar workers.

If “Waitress,” like “Alice,” is sitcomish, then hey! Let’s hear it for sitcoms! The picture is a delight from start to finish.

Rated R.    107 minutes   © 2007 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

#2 of 2 Posted 8/3/08 6:04 AM

From mycherry999 Posts 1 Last 8/3/08
To Harveycritic [Msg # 22368.2 22368.1 ] (Unread)

This is a very nice review of the movie waitress.. although I was not impressed with cheryl hines on the movie, her acting is a little off. but I think she will improve a lot in the future.

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Waitress

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