Waitress

Reviewed by:
Pete Hammond

Felicity star Keri Russell, who was once best known for her hairstyles, dials it down and shines in her latest role as a small-town waitress stuck in a bad marriage. When the new doctor in town (Nathan Fillion) confirms her worst fear, an unexpected pregnancy, her hopes to get out of the dead-end union with her insensitive, bullying hubby (Jeremy Sisto) seem dashed. Suddenly she shocks her brassy coworkers (Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly, also the film's writer/director) by having an affair with none other than the married doc. With her life in upheaval it's a good thing she can make pies, lots of pies, which all have a name describing her various moods. Anyone starving for an "I can't have no affair because it's wrong and I don't want Earl to kill me" pie? And by the way, why is every southern bad boy named Earl? Picked up in January at the Sundance Film Festival and fast-tracked for release now, Waitress goes down easy. It details the simple truths of trying to find happiness when you live in nowheresville and everyone is in your shit. Fortunately, Andy Griffith, as a diner owner, is around to straighten her out with an endless supply of southern homilies that would have been right at home in Mayberry. A bright, easy-to-like Technicolored comedy, this sadly will be the final film from costar and promising filmmaker Shelly, who was tragically murdered in a random act of violence last October before ever getting to see her light and fun creation hit theaters. The movie remains a fitting tribute to a talent who died too young.

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