Movie Review: Waitress
It’s all about the pies. If you like pie, then you should be sure to have one waiting for you back home when you go to see Waitress. There are so many pies in Waitress, of all varieties, most with funny names and a wide assortment of ingredients, that you’d have to be a card-carrying pie hater to not want a pie after leaving the theatre.
Pie-making is Jenna’s talent, and the film presents it as a process that is alternately funny and sensual — stirring the chocolate or pouring berries into the crust, Jenna seems at one with her pies. Her process of creation is a beautiful thing, and pie-making acts as a kind of backbone to the film, a look into the character’s heart and inner thoughts.
In addition to making numerous creative pies, Jenna waitresses at a pie restaurant, is trapped in a marriage to a horribly controlling man, learns she’s pregnant with his child, and winds up in an affair with her gynecologist.
It’s a romantic comedy.
The amazing thing about Waitress is that it’s a romantic comedy that doesn’t fall into the realm of the cliché. It’s a comedy with heart and romance, but it avoids all the romantic comedy tropes that are now so stale that they give such movies a bad name. Every character feels unique and plausible, and the comedy is based in the characters rather than in slapstick. In many ways Waitress takes a situation and a story that is very serious and makes it lighthearted and fun. Marital infidelity is a serious topic. So is the psychological abuse Jenna’s husband puts her through. By all rights, this story should not be funny, and yet, somehow, it is.
As for the acting, Keri Russell is perfect as Jenna, and Nathan Fillion does an excellent job (as usual) playing Dr. Pomatter, her love interest. Another standout performance comes from Andy Griffith as the advice-giving Old Joe, but all of the characters have a certain life to them, and there really didn’t seem to be any weak spots in the acting at all. Like pretty much everything in the film, the actors all seemed to just fit.
Really, if you’re going to go see a movie in the next couple weeks, this is the one to see.
(Waitress is supposed to be in limited theatrical release as of May 2nd. The film showed up in Santa Cruz on May 17th, so I don’t know how widespread the distribution is.)
All in all, a delightful movie with a strong storyline and a healthy dash of humor. Very enjoyable and highly recommended. Go see it, and then get yourself a slice of pie.