A quirky comedy with emotional impact. One of my favorite genres actually. Tight direction, strong dialogue, good acting. Imagine the Coen brothers at Mel's Diner.
Waitress (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:160
Fresh:142
Rotten:18
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Sweet, smart, and quirky, Waitress hits the right, bittersweet notes through this romantic comedy through its witty script and a superb performance by Keri Russell.
Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for language, drug use and some sexual content
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:10-08-2007
Synopsis: An audience hit at the Sundance Film Festival, WAITRESS serves up a sweet, sassy and delicious slice of life tale -- as it reveals the power of friendship, motherhood and the willingness to take a... An audience hit at the Sundance Film Festival, WAITRESS serves up a sweet, sassy and delicious slice of life tale -- as it reveals the power of friendship, motherhood and the willingness to take a chance. It's the story of a small town woman who transforms her hopeless life into a hilarious and unexpected love story. This vibrantly different romantic comedy is the final film from writer-director Adrienne Shelly. Starring in the title role, Keri Russell (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3, THE UPSIDE OF ANGER) leads a dynamic cast as a diner waitress stuck in a lousy marriage whose only solace is baking out-of-this-world pies. When the awkwardly charming new OB-GYN, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion, SERINITY), comes to town, she's inspired to mix-master her life into something far more satisfying. WAITRESS will surely do for pie making what SIDEWAYS did for Pinot Noir. As a favorite waitress at Joe's Diner, Jenna (Russell) is also a "pie genius," naming her tantalizing confections after the tumultuous events and emotions of her daily life. She's hoping that one of her pastries, like her "Kick In The Pants" Pie, might even change her life – if she can just win that $25,000 pie contest. But when Jenna discovers that she's pregnant, she immediately bakes an "I Don't Want Earl's Baby" Pie – a quiche of egg and cheese with a smoked ham center. After all, her husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto, THIRTEEN, SIX FEET UNDER) is a jealous jerk that is essentially a child himself and the last thing they need to do is start a family together. But the pregnancy eventually changes the course of events in her life, giving her an unexpected and newfound confidence via letters to her unborn baby. WAITRESS also stars Emmy® nominee Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," RV) and Adrienne Shelly (THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH, TRUST) as Jenna's quick-tongued fellow waitresses along with classic television star Andy Griffith ("The Andy Griffith Show," "Matlock") as the curmudgeonly Old Joe of Joe's Diner. Fox Searchlight presents a Night and Day production of WAITRESS, written and directed by Adrienne Shelly. The producer is Michael Roiff and the executive producers are Todd King, Jeff Rose, Danielle Renfrew and Robert Bauer. The behind-the-scenes talent includes director of photography Matthew Irving (WAITING, DALTRY CALHOUN, NORTHFORK), production designer Ramsay Avery (TEAM AMERICA), editor Annette Davey (SORRY, HATERS) and composer Andrew Hollander (GRAY MATTERS). --© Fox Searchlight Pictures [More]
Starring: Keri Russell, Jeremy Sisto, Cheryl Hines, Nathan Fillion
Starring: Keri Russell, Jeremy Sisto, Cheryl Hines, Nathan Fillion, Andy Griffith, Eddie Jemison
Director: Adrienne Shelly
Director: Adrienne Shelly
Screenwriter: Adrienne Shelly
Producer: Michael Roiff
Composer: Andrew Hollander
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Reviews for Waitress
A lot like its heroine's humorously named pie creations -- just different enough to be distinctive, but not different enough to be anything other than pie.
Keri Russell is excellent. Not every actor can play a would-be mother who doesn't want her child and still have us firmly on her side.
Shelly's sharp take on a pregnant woman's inner misgivings keeps Waitress from delving into the muck of overly sentimental romantic comedies.
Order up a slice of the best pie this side of heaven, and enjoy a nice movie of bittersweet satisfaction.
In Waitress, the late writer-director Adrienne Shelly crafted a highly entertaining yet poignant film featuring a complex heroine.
Writer-director-co-star Adrienne Shelly and her talented co-workers serve many charming scenes in Waitress.
Where Shelly excels is in her ability to dig beneath sitcom scenarios and focus on some hard truths that all too often define one's choices in life.
Waitress has some unexpected twists and turns and features some refreshingly offbeat humor, as well as terrific performances by its cast.
Watching 'Waitress,' we can believe Shelly herself was a 'queen of kindness and goodness,' and we can be thankful she left us such a fine film.
This bittersweet romantic farce teeters and then tips into precious, a forgivable sin once you know this sweet movie's sad history.
Waitress exists in a fictional film universe that many movies strive for but few actually reach, where slightly off-kilter characters are dropped into bizarre circumstances and the whole thing feels far from contrived.
In the pantheon of forced quirk, no American indie tried as hard to be different as Garden State, but Waitress is surely in the same ballpark.
Writer/director Adrienne Shelly's "Waitress" serves up a slice of movietime heaven.
It has a feeling of... I don't want to say secret insight about the experience of being a woman, but... the experience of half the human race is... so often simply not within the purview of the male-type people who make the vast majority of movies.
Using a style that faintly echoes Hartley's, Shelly beautifully balances deadpan humor, pathos and heartbreakingly lovely moments of happy truth.
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