Waitress

Apparently trying to follow the tradition of some great food movies such as Eat Drink Man Woman, Babette’s Feast and Like Water for Chocolate, writer/director/actress Adrienne Shelly’s last movie Waitress unfortunately falls far short from those masterpieces.

Jenna (played by Keri Russell) is a waitress at Joe’s Pie House, a little diner in the deep south. She is a genius at creating pies, but flunks miserably at choosing men in her life. The movie starts with the three waitresses (Jenna and her two friends, Becky and Dawn) bantering to each other about Jenna’s pregnancy and her no-good husband. It pretty much sets the whole tone for the movie – that too-cute-that-can-only-happen-in-movie tone. It is appropriate for Shelley to use pies symbolizing different moods and stages Jenna is in. Watching this film feels like over consumption of too many sweets that one may have to throw up to purge oneself. To make matters even worse, the sweetness in one’s mouth is not even created by some natural sugar but by all those artificial substitutes.

There are so many holes in Shelly’s script that I don’t know where to begin my questions. Jenna and everyone else keep saying that her life sucks, but I can really just see one problem and it doesn’t seem to be that hard to fix: She just needs to leave her lousy husband. Jenna claims that she sees too much ugliness in this world and at one point tells her lover that besides her mother, she never had a best friend before. What is she talking about? Besides that husband of hers, there is not a single mean soul in the diner or around her elsewhere. The few seemingly nasty ones, we can all sense that they are those heart-of-gold-beneath-tough-exterior types. She shares all her secrets with Becky and Dawn, if they are not her best friends, I don’t know what constitutes a definition for best friend. Also, what is the deal about her affair with her new OB/GYN? She is so afraid of leaving her husband, but she is not too scared to have a smooch fest with her doctor right in the open daylight or in her own house? I know why Jenna is attracted to her doctor, but we never gets to know why the doctor strays from his wife unless he is just a cheat-at-heart.

Actually a few male characters are the strong point in Shelly’s spotty script. The diner’s cook Cal gives some interesting thoughts on life, but his scenes are so little that I want to scream for more. Jenna’s louse of a husband is another one that feels more alive than just a plain carbon copy of some stereotype. In the movie, Shelly announces his arrival always by his honking of the car horn. This simply action speaks fully about his inconsideration toward others, laziness and pompousness. I just hope that Shelly could have done the same for other characters: more subtlety, less outright cuteness.

The movie ends with that age-old myth: motherhood is the key to everything. All through her pregnancy, Jenna considers the baby as a burden. Surprise! When the baby is born, of course, she is 100% enamored with her and all of sudden becomes a superwoman. Shelly has the camera focus on Jenna and the baby, and the two men in her life, Dr. Pomatter and her husband all become a blur in the foreground. She has no fear leaving her husband any more and no fear to be alone and start a new life. I only wish life could be that easy.

The music in the movie is also overwhelming. At every emotional point, Shelly lets some song or instrumental piece to help convey the situation. Call me old school, but for me, unless I am watching a musical, I want the music to be in the background, playing a secondary role. Any time when I notice the music so much, that probably means the director has overplayed this supporting tool.

Shelly was tragically murdered last November and she was a very good comedic actress. I wish she could still be around to improve her craft. Russell is the cutest actress around nowadays and she is perfect playing pert Jenna. I hope this role will lead her to some more meaty and substantial parts in the future.