WAITRESS

US, 2007, 107 minutes, Colour.
Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith, Adrienne Shelly, Eddie Jemison.
Directed by Adrienne Shelly.

This is a pleasant surprise. Yes, it is about a young woman who works at a diner and, yes, there are a lot of familiar characters and situations. However, there is a warm-heartedness, even a sweet-naturedness about it that appeals – even though it does not shirk some of the harsher aspects of life. And this is in no small measure to the winning performance of Keri Russell as the young waitress, Jenna.

Waitress was written and directed by actress Adrienne Shelley while she was pregnant. It explores the wonder of pregnancy, but with some edge. The waitress doesn’t really want to be pregnant. She is married to a husband who hasn’t grown up, who is completely self-centred, demanding and dominating. Jeremy Sisto portrays him as fascinatingly malevolent. Her gift in life is to create and bake pies – and to give them names which correspond to the situation for which she makes them.

For those who enjoy food films, there are many sequences of pie-making as well as visual displays of colourful and tempting pies.

Much of the action takes place in the diner where the waitress works – and a lot of humour in the characters of her two waitress friends, one of whom, dawn (Adrienne Shelley herself), lacks self-confidence, relies on help from her friends to make her look attractive, and then falls in love with the eccentric man she met on a ‘Personals’ date. The other, Becky, is played for good laughs by Cheryl Hines, wisecracking with a heart of gold.

An added bonus is Andy Griffiths as Old Joe, the curmudgeonly owner of the diner, demanding with the waitresses and their work but who befriends the put-upon Jenna and serves as both friend and conscience.

This is needed as Jenna falls in love with her married obstetrician and has to face reality about her baby and about her husband. As with so many Hollywood films recently (Evening, Knocked Up), there is a delight in motherhood and babies.

The sad note about the film is that Adrienne Shelley was needlessly murdered by a worker in her house. Her own little daughter appears in the emotional final scene of Waitress.

1.An appealing film? Warm-hearted? Heart on the sleeve? A blend of realism and hope?

2.The title, the focus, Jenna and the other waitresses, the job, the diner, communication, serving, the difficulties? The emphasis on food? The emphasis on pies?

3.The theme of pies, the opening, the visuals of the pies throughout the film, Jenna and her skills, the recipes, imagining titles and ingredients, singing the song about pies?

4.The small-town setting, the south, the diner, life within the diner, the staff? The contrast with homes? Hospitals, surgeries? Married life? Authentic? The musical score?

5.The female tone of the film? The writer-director? The central characters? The feminine perspective? Feeling, empathy? Women’s talk, women’s secrets, sharing, support and friendship?

6.Keri Russell as Jenna? Attractive to the audience? The opening, the pies, discovering she was pregnant, her antipathy towards the baby, towards her husband? His getting her drunk? Her having married him, the advice of her mother? His change? His honking the horn at her, demands, his being childish? His meals, the money? Her responses, agreeing with him? Making the spaghetti pie? His picking her up at work, his angers, the issues of sexual encounter or not, his violent reactions? The time of her pregnancy? His refusing to let her go to the pie contest? His manifestation of anger at the wedding celebration? Jenna and her stoic response?

7.Jenna in herself, her age, experience? Her reliance on her mother? Her skills with pies, skills with people? Dealing with Joe, the interchanges, his liking her, his wisdom, the horoscopes? Her antipathy towards Earl? The strong bonds with Becky and Dawn, helping Dawn with her makeup, discussing secrets with Becky? Cal and his attitude towards the women, bossing them round? Sharing their experiences? The episode with Ogie?

8.Doctor Pomatter, Jenna going to see her own doctor, discovering him, the pie? The questions, her adjusting to him? The phone calls, his invitations? The question about the blood, going at 7.00am, her criticism of him, the kiss? The month, the various visits, the interactions? The affair? The collage of her smiles? Joe and his recognising what was happening, his inventing the horoscopes to warn her, his own life story? Whether to break the affair or not? Doctor Pomatter’s? absence, with his wife? Her own doctor coming back, giving her the information? The doctor going to the diner and her rejecting him?

9.Earl, his character, self-absorbed childish, macho, his treatment of his wife, the pregnancy, honking the horn at her, talking about money, refusing her permission? Wanting sex? His anger at the wedding ceremony? His presence at the birth, the recorder? Her telling him off, his being left by himself?

10.Becky, character, smart-mouth, sardonic? The relationship with Cal? The friendship with Dawn?

11.Dawn, the Personals columns, the date with Ogie, five minutes, Jenna helping her to look beautiful? Her reaction, anger, Ogie and his self-confidence, coming to the diner, his persistence, the spontaneous poems? The change of heart, the wedding?

12.Cal, his continually telling the women to get back to work, the relationship with Becky, Becky being married, her invalid husband? His being aware that Jenna was pregnant?

13.Earl, the money, Jenna hiding the money in the house, his discovering it, buying all the baby wear and the cot? Jenna and her feeling trapped, unable to leave?

14.Doctor Pomatter, his being married, attracted to Jenna, responding to her, the affair? His wife? His attending to the birth, everybody coming in, including his wife? The experience of the birth, Earl and the video?

15.The birth, its effect on Jenna, her holding the baby? The background of her writing letters to her baby – and the change of heart?

16.Telling Earl the truth, taken in by Becky and Dawn?

17.Joe, his character, crusty, the owner, wanting Jenna, the demands for his order? Making up the horoscopes, warning her? His being in hospital, his card, his death? Jenna reading the card, the money?

18.The diner, the pies, the display? Her calling the diner after her daughter? The happy ending with the pies – and the display of pies?

19.Jenna and her walking down the road with Lulu? A happy ending?

20.A heart-warming film, sweet-natured, yet not shirking the harsh realities of everyday life?