>>REVIEW
WAITRESS
STARRING Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines and Jeremy Sisto
DIRECTED BY Adrienne Shelly
Opens Friday, May 18
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Waitress doesn’t try to make any profound statements on life. No grand political agendas or grudges require reconciliation. Not a single gas station explodes in the film and Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, doesn’t even bother to make a cameo. Despite its American indie film roots and accolades at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Waitress is a good old-fashioned romantic comedy steeped in a refreshing earnestness. While most recent films of the genre peddle in the millionth iteration of manufactured emotions, director/writer Adrienne Shelly strips everything down to compelling characters you want to reach out and hug.
Keri Russell stars as Jenna, a waitress at a Southern diner specializing in pies who wants nothing more in life than to be left alone. Married to an abusive husband (Jeremy Sisto) and pregnant with an unwanted child, Jenna expresses herself through her work – baking pies. During a check-up, Jenna gets caught in an affair with the new doctor in town (a charming as all hell Nathan Fillion).
A synopsis like that doesn’t have anybody hold out for much hope, sounding like a Harlequin romance novel you’d get at the grocery store. Yet, Shelly goes beyond the usual cardboard clichés that fill out these affairs, presenting every character as a real human being with depth. The usual obstacles and entanglements of the genre are stripped away to allow these characters to just live. It’s a testament to the powerhouse performances Shelly coaxed out of her actors.
Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Diane Keaton and Woody Allen. And now Russell and Fillion. Every romantic comedy needs a couple and these two deliver an electrifying chemistry. They bring such warmth and heart to their affair, Fillion playing charming befuddlement like a giant Casio keyboard and Russell bringing a guarded earnestness that’s so transparent. Sisto, familiar to most fans of Six Feet Under, takes what could easily have been just a cartoon villain and brings an adolescent vulnerability to his character without removing any menace. Even when not onscreen, his presence hangs in the periphery waiting to bludgeon a scene with his signature car horn.
As the film draws to its inevitable conclusion, Shelly clears the path for Jenna a bit too easily. In the last few moments of the film, shortcuts are taken to achieve certain emotional beats. But at that point, you’ve forgiven the film, its charm filling your head like a sugar rush. |
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