Waitress (film)

Plot

Jenna (Keri Russell) is a waitress living in the American South, trapped in an unhappy marriage with her controlling and abusive husband, Earl (Jeremy Sisto). She works in Joe's Pie Diner, where her job includes creating inventive pies with unusual titles inspired by her life, such as the "Bad Baby Pie" she invents after her unwanted pregnancy is confirmed. While a receptionist at the Doctors office notices her disappointment and even mentions to her that she can have the pregnancy "taken care of" in a city about 2 hours away she decides to keep the baby none the less. The waitresses show up late for work, talk on the phone, spend much time with personal business and talk back to the boss. Jenna longs to run away from her dismal marriage and is slowly accumulating money to do so. She pins her hopes for escape on a pie contest in a nearby town, which offers a $25,000 grand prize, but her husband won't let her go. Her only friends are co-workers Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Adrienne Shelly) and regular customer Joe (Andy Griffith), the curmudgeonly owner of the diner and several other local businesses, who encourages her to begin a new life elsewhere.

Jenna's life changes after she meets her new physician, Jim Pomatter (Nathan Fillion). He has moved to the small town to accommodate his wife, who is completing her residency at the local hospital, and is filling in for the woman who has been Jenna's doctor since childhood. The two are attracted to each other, and over the course of several pre-natal appointments the attraction grows. After Dr. Pomatter invites her into the office under a quickly exposed pretext, she impulsively initiates a passionate affair.

Prompted by the gift of a baby journal, Jenna begins to keep a diary, ostensibly for her unborn child, with voiceovers giving the viewer access to her thoughts about that future child and her own plans. Between these entries, her relationship with Dr. Pomatter, and the thoughts she reveals as she describes the various pies she creates, the audience gets to know her evolving hopes and dreams, concerns and fears, and slowly growing attachment to the baby she at first didn't want.

After giving birth, Jenna bonds immediately with the baby girl she names Lulu. Earl, clearly disappointed it's a girl, reminds Jenna of a promise he had forced her to make earlier not to love the baby more than she does him. That comment wipes away any concerns she has about her lack of money and her fear of her husband. With determined frankness she tells him bluntly she hasn't loved him in years, will no longer put up with his possessiveness and abuse and will not let Lulu grow up with him mistreating her, and wants a divorce, Earl became angry and is taken out of the hospital by the security staff after he attempts to assault Jenna and is now finally out of her life. Later, while Becky and Dawn are helping her prepare to leave the hospital and letting her know that Joe had collapsed and gone into a coma, Jenna remembers an envelope Joe had brought to her before the birth when she finds out he had been admitted as a patient in the same hospital. In the envelope she finds a handmade card with a sketch of her, a check for $270,450, and a message of friendship that urges her to start her life anew. While leaving the hospital, Dr. Pomatter wants to have a word with her in private regarding their affair and what is to happen now. She promptly breaks it off, handing him a chocolate Moon Pie and asks her friends to wheel her out. On the way out they ask her what that was all about, to which she replies that she was having an affair with him and just ended it.

An epilogue depicts Jenna winning the pie contest, and becoming the new owner of the diner where she worked, now called Lulu's Pies, serving brightly colored pies to her customers and friends. The final shot shows her happily walking home hand-in-hand with the now toddler-aged Lulu.

Cast

Production

The film is set in a small town in the Southern United States, although the movie was filmed in Saugus, California.

Reception

The film was accepted into the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, though its premiere was bittersweet because writer/director Shelly (who also played Dawn in the film) was murdered less than three months before its debut and just before she was about to learn the film had been accepted into the festival. Its success there led Fox Searchlight Pictures to acquire the distribution rights for $4–5 million. It opened the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, with an 89% "Fresh" rating among the 163 reviews tracked by Rotten Tomatoes, and ending the year on that site's list of Top 100 films for 2007. It got a 75 out of 100 at Metacritic. Waitress was called a "good-hearted, well-made comedy" brimming with "quality star wattage". The reviewer from The A.V. Club was less glowing, concluding:

It would be tempting to compare the setting and ditzy sidekick/tough-talking blonde/soulful lead dynamic unfavorably to Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore if it aspired that high. With its snappy dialogue and broad characters, it's closer in spirit to that film's sitcom spin-off, Alice. Still, there's much to offset the shortcomings, particularly nice performances from Russell and Fillion and a rare, welcome role from Andy Griffith as the diner's gruff owner, even if he's largely there to set up a finale that cheats much of what's come before. It's an imperfect film, but it's the kind of imperfect film of which it would be nice to have seen Shelly make more.

Mick LaSalle called it a "great American film" that transcends its "air of whimsicality and its emphasis on small-town characters and humble locations."

Keri Russell's performance in the film partly inspired casting director Andrea Romano to cast her as the voice of Wonder Woman in the 2009 animated film Wonder Woman.

Awards and nominations

Adrienne Shelly received a Best Screenplay nomination at the 23rd Independent Spirit Awards.

Stage adaptation

A stage musical has been written, based on the film. The musical opened at the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Massachusetts, running from August 2, 2015, to September 27. The music and lyrics are written by Sara Bareilles, with the book by Jessie Nelson. Diane Paulus directs, with choreography by Chase Brock, sets by Scott Pask, costumes by Suttirat Larlarb and lighting by Ken Posner. The cast features Jessie Mueller as Jenna, Kimiko Glenn as Dawn, Drew Gehling as Dr. Pomatter, Dakin Matthews as Joe, Keala Settle as Becky, Eric Anderson as Cal, Jeremy Morse as Ogie and Joe Tippett as Earl.

The musical opened on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, previews started on March 25, 2016, and the show officially opened on April 24. The cast featured Mueller, Gehling, Anderson, Settle and Matthews all returning from the A.R.T production, as well as Kimiko Glenn as Dawn, Christopher Fitzgerald as Ogie and Nick Cordero as Earl.