Waitress could have turned into a middling mess, or something with characters that are hard to like (or, I should really note, sociopathic) if done in a more hard-lined Hollywood 'rom-com' assembly-line output (in 2007 those were still done). But Adrienne Shelley was more, for lack of a less precise word-choice, sweet-hearted about her characters. Even the villain of the story, and he is a villain who stands firmly in the way of our hero Keri Russell, her character's husband played by Jeremy Sisto, takes a break (if only in the tiniest moments) to not be a scumbag and show how he too can be vulnerable and afraid.

He surely shows his humanity the least - Sisto is scarily adept at making his Earl into a presence that's felt off camera too, if not more so - but Shelley had with Waitress a real chance to make a commercial picture and she took it. Prior to this she directed a couple of low budget independent films, and with this may have seemed to go 'mainstream'. The casting choices though are what count here especially; Russell carries so much screen presence that it's a wonder the lens doesn't make out with her before Nathan Fillion's Doctor does. And in small parts she gets things right too with Cheryl Hines as another waitress at the diner where Jenna serves and (especially, well, uniquely) makes pies, and Andy Griffith is the nice-but-demeaning water (he better get his two waters AND have time to read the horoscope!)

There are times when the movie goes into perhaps being too 'cute' or 'quirky'; this is from the same studio, Fox Searchlight, that would a few months later put out another story of an uncertain-in-her-life young woman, Juno, and there's points this dips into being a story that is so light it might float away (or another way to put it on the other extreme is that it's a more grounded version of Pushing Daisies). And oddly enough if there's one part of the movie that doesn't work for me it's ironically Shelley's own sub-plot, where she's another waitress courted by a stone-cold Nebbish with a capital N, and who have an argument in the diner which kind of grinds the movie to a halt.

But I can forgive (most of) that for how pure the relationship is between Russell and Fillion on screen; I wish I saw more of Nathan FIllion in movies, or at least in leads like this where he gets to develop a character and he shows us just enough to get to understand why he's doing the things he is. Or, on the reverse, not entirely know why, again this is from Jenna's point of view and that's crucial - we're seeing it through HER eyes, through the downtrodden hero we want to see get out of her loveless marriage. Though some parts are funny (scattered really),it's actually more of a drama with a light touch, and it feels harrowing at times in the scope of a low-middle class, blue collar existence: what does one do with the options presented, i.e. bad marriage, a baby on the way that may/may not be loved, and an affair that is hot but untenable?

Russell guides all of these conflicts of the character beautifully, leading up to a conclusion that is genuine and moving. To a further point, knowing about the horrible circumstances outside of the production - Shelley was murdered just before the film was released, though it was finished at the time - makes the very ending a real lump-in-the-throat moment (or just cry your eyes out, go for it). Waitress wears its emotions on its sleeve, but it carries its sincerity along both in the writing and performances, so it's a tough film to ever put down all that much.

The late Adrienne Shelly wrote, directed, and co-stars in this modest comedy wherein a small town pie-maker (who works as a waitress at the diner she makes desserts for!) considers leaving her abusive husband for her handsome--but already-married--obstetrician. To complicate matters, she finds she's pregnant for the first time (after the husband got her drunk one night),though this only seems to sweeten the pot for the doctor, who wants to run off with her anyhow. Keri Russell is very fetching and grounded in the leading role, but her character (who has been making delicious treats her entire life) comes off as an underachiever, with no money and no hope in turning her baking talents into a lucrative profession. Jeremy Sisto's angry, selfish husband fares no better; wouldn't he want his wife bringing home more money...or is he happy struggling along from paycheck to paycheck? The condition that he's so jealous he won't allow her to try for bigger prospects is a lazy, illogical out, and the scenes between husband and wife are both unpleasant and unconvincing. Shelly has created some engaging, folksy supporting roles (such as Andy Griffith's salty proprietor),but because the movie has only one foot in reality, the situations these people are involved in do not come to much. The humor is quirky-cute though not terribly funny, while the Southern milieu, the life in the diner, and the side-threads of romance each fail to come off. ** from ****

Jenna Hunterson (Keri Russell) is a pie shop waitress who makes amazing pies with strange names. She is dismayed that her husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto) got her pregnant. He's a controlling, obnoxious, and demeaning. Her best friends are her fellow waitresses Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Adrienne Shelly). The owner of the pie shop is Old Joe (Andy Griffith). She's trying to save money to run away from Earl. She wants to enter a $25k pie contest in a nearby town but Earl won't permit it. Then she meets the new doctor Jim Pomatter (Nathan Fillion). She falls for him only that he's already married.

It's a whimsical movie about slightly quirky characters by Adrienne Shelly. It's really sad that she got murdered. She showed herself to be an interesting emerging filmmaker. It's more charming rather than laugh out loud funny. The heart of it is the adorably sweet Keri Russell.