Waitress [WS]

Director: Adrienne Shelly Adrienne Shelly

Overview

Trapped in a miserable marriage and blessed with the ability to transform her misery into delicious desserts, a small-town waitress finds her life forever changed by an unplanned pregnancy. Every day, Jenna (Keri Russell) ties on her apron and serves her customers with a smile, and every night she goes to bed knowing that she is one step closer to the day that she can kiss her scarily domineering husband (Jeremy Sisto) goodbye forever. A smart and sassy baker whose extraordinary pies are inspired by her daily trials and tribulations, Jenna fears that her dreams are all but dead when handsome Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) reveals that she is soon to become a mother. As Jenna begins penning a series of letters to her unborn baby, her life starts to change for the better in ways she never could have imagined. The final film from actress/filmmaker Adrienne Shelly, Waitress debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah just months after the director was discovered dead in her New York City apartment -- the victim of a homicide.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/27/2007
UPC:	0024543460183
Original Release:	2007
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Fox Searchlight
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:48:00
Sales rank:	17,048

Special Features

This Is How We Made Waitress Pie featurette; Commentary with producer Michael Roiff and actor Keri Russell; Written and Directed by Adrienne Shelly: A Memorial featurette; "Hi, I'm Keri, Your Waitress" featurette; The Pies Have It featurette; Fox Movie Channel Presents In Character With Keri Russell - Cheryl Hines - Nathan Fillion

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Keri Russell	Jenna
Nathan Fillion	Dr. Pomatter
Cheryl Hines	Becky
Adrienne Shelly	Dawn
Andy Griffith	Old Joe
Jeremy Sisto	Earl
Lew Temple	Cal
Darby Stanchfield	Francine Pomatter
Heidi Sulzman	Actor
Hunter King	Actor,Actor
Lauri Johnson	Actor
Sarah Hunley	Dr. Mueller
Sophie Ostroy	Actor,Actor
Eleya Avery-Ault	Actor
Jesse Schneider	Actor,Actor
Christy Taylor	Actor
Jennifer Walsh	Actor
Eddie Jemison	Actor
Hailey Parker	Actor
Riley Stefanelli	Actor
Henry Arthur Smith	Actor
Cindy Drummond	Actor
Nathan Dean	Actor
Caroline Fogarty	Actor
Donna Leslie	Actor
Kira Grace	Actor
Danny Allen	Actor
Elaine Levine	Actor
Doreen Powell	Actor
Bella Stromel	Actor
Nora Paradiso	Ethel
Edward Jemison	Ogie
Andrew Hollander	Composer

Technical Credits

Adrienne Shelly

Adrienne Shelly	Director,Screenwriter
Michael Roiff	Producer
Todd King	Executive Producer
Jeff Rose	Executive Producer
Danielle Renfrew	Executive Producer
Robert Bauer	Executive Producer
Meg Morman	Casting
Sunday Boling	Casting

Editorial Reviews

The hero of Waitress works in a diner alongside her harmless but intimidating boss and two friends, one mouthy and the other mousy, making the setup feel like a big-screen version of the TV show Alice (although nothing like that program's cinematic inspiration, Martin Scoresese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore). Director Adrienne Shelley creates a familiar rural American town populated with characters so folksy and charming that the fact Andy Griffith shows up in a small but important supporting role couldn't seem any more appropriate. Shelley darkens this nonthreatening situation right away by allowing our hero, expert pie maker Jenna (Keri Russell), to express her hatred for the baby growing inside her. Although there is no question she is going to have the baby, she wants nothing to do with it after it arrives. Shelley does a fabulous job of allowing the darkest impulses and fears of the characters to color, but never overwhelm them, and she keeps a tone so loving and friendly that the audience never fears for the characters, but simply wishes that they all find some comfort and happiness. Russell is superb as Jenna, playing a variety of emotions from fear to horny to angry to glowing expectant mom, and each phase radiates from Russell's engaging face. Her performance captures the tone, bittersweet without ever lapsing into schmaltz, that the entire film aims for. The supporting cast also walks that same fine emotional line with Eddie Jemison doing a schticky but sweet turn as a man besotted by love, Cheryl Hines playing a character simultaneously selfish and selfless, and Griffith managing to be both prickly and wise. The character of Earl, Jenna's threatening and pitiful husband, showcases everything great about the film. He could easily have become a two-dimensional monster, and while Shelley never flinches from how horrible he is, she allows him to have a humanizing emotional fragility that Jeremy Sisto plays with great skill. Waitress is a warm, crowd-pleasing entertainment that earns its feel-good vibe honestly by never denying the darkness that surrounds, and occasionally engulfs, every character in the film.