Susan Granger’s review of “Waitress” (Fox Searchlight)
When does a comedy become a tragedy? When its talented writer/director, Adrienne Shelly, is brutally murdered in her Manhattan apartment three months before it opens at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
At Joe’s Pie Shop in a small Southern town, Jenna (Keri Russell) is recognized as a “pie genius,” having inherited her late mother’s gift for concocting inventively delicious bakery goods like “I Hate My Husband Pie” (unsweetened bittersweet chocolate made into a pudding, drowned in caramel), “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie” (egg and brie quiche with a smoked ham center), “Kick in the Pants Pie” (cinnamon spice custard) and “Pregnant Miserable Self-Pitying Loser Pie” (lumpy oatmeal with mashed fruitcake – flambŽ), among others. Yeah, this could be considered one of those “foodie movies.”
While cantankerous Old Joe (Andy Griffith) appreciates her, Jenna’s controlled by her despicably abusive husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto), who not only takes her money and gets her pregnant but makes her promise that she won’t pay more attention to their baby than to him. Under the care of a compassionate obstetrician (Nathan Fillion), newly arrived from Connecticut, she discovers mutual affection – which she confides to her folksy fellow waitresses – wise-cracking Becky (Cheryl Hines) and mousy Dawn (Adrienne Shelly) – who have their own mini-dramas.
Adrienne Shelly was an independent film actress (“Trust,” “The Unbelievable Truth”) who began writing and directing movies in the late 1990s. She was killed on Nov., 1, 2006, while working on “Waitress” post-production. It’s a tribute to her, radiant Keri Russell – as the “queen of kindness and goodness” – and cinematographer Matthew Irving that this flaky, candy-colored fable of infidelity, empowerment and re-invention is so mouth-watering. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Waitress” is a tasty, if bittersweet 8. It’s truly scrumptious!
