Waitress

Review by Clint Morris

“Maybe you could like and trust me too?”
“I've never seen you before”.

Lines from the movie but also a supplication to the audience to try a bowl of something different... Even if what you’re used to is more comforting at times than the unexpected.

In the new Indy comedy Waitress, Keri Russell is a diner employee who hates her husband so much she's come up with a pie to take her mind off him... It’s the most over indulgent, messy, merge of cake mix you've ever seen… everything this film is not.

Here's a film that's so far from the norm, not even the guy from the ‘Life Be in It’ ads will be considering lifting a finger to rinse in it its tasty goodness. Anyone else is summoned to the cinema pronto. It’s time to see originality in its purest form.

Jenna (Russell of Felicity fame) is a small-town waitress who funnels her sadness through cooking – in particular, cakes that she has invented. When Jenna discovers her mean-spirited husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto) has got her pregnant (it must have been the night he got her drunk), her life turns upside down – for one, she falls for the doctor (Nathan Fillion) looking after her pregnancy. Is he the key to her happiness? Or is the solution a lot closer to home?

Proving once again that [as the ad reminds us] the simple things in life are often the best, Waitress is a film with a plot as bony as a bubblegum pop-singer but thanks to some divine performances and some intricate direction this otherwise fairly plane sponge is transformed into a multi-layered wedding cake. The bulk of its cred lies in Russell’s performance – she is truly remarkable, exposing every inch of her emotional range, and painting the most realistic looking picture of a ‘real’ person to grace a screen in years. Her performance isn’t just memorable, it’s Oscar Worthy.

In addition, Nathan Fillion (known to Sci-Fi fans for his role as the cocksure Captain Mal Reynolds on TVs Firefly) is handed one of his best screen roles to date with a character that enables him to let loose with his trademark charm and cheeky sense of humour. It’s a role Fillion was born to play. And together with Russell, there’s definite chemistry.

In her third film as director and writer, Adrienne Shelly scores a personal triumph. She injects just the right amount of humour, drama and heart into a film that we’ll all be able to relate to in one way or another. (On a side note, albeit a tragic one, Shelly was murdered last year).

Waitress could be the best thing on the cinematic menu this year – it ain’t just special, it’s the special; ‘one of the best films of the year’ special. If only all studios would order up something this good a little more regularly.

4 out of 5

Waitress
Australian release: 25th October, 2007
Cast: Keri Russell, Jeremy Sisto, Cheryl Hines, Nathan Fillon, Andy Griffith
Director: Adrienne Shelly
Website: Click here.