Movie Review: Waitress

Well I decided to start my Movie Fiesta '09 tonight, and this ones been sitting in my game case for a while (along with Knocked Up and Last King of Scotland) Excuse me for not making this long but it's 3:30 and I'm dead tired.

Basically the story revolves around Jenna (Keri Russell, We Were Soldiers) who is pregnant, from her husband, who she isn't in love with. She's a waitress at Joe's Pie Diner and is friends with Dawn (see bottom) and Becky (Cheryl Hines, Curb Your Enthusiasm) who are also waitresses there. Her forte is making pies though, because her mother taught her how to make them and she's always making up new ones based on how she feels.

So she sees the doctor and to her surprise it's new Dr. Jim Pomatter (Nathan Fillion, Canadian and in everything you've ever seen it seems). In time they begin to develop a relationship. Earl (Jeremy Sisto, Law & Order) Jenna's husband seems insecure, but maybe he is just an ass and Jenna wants to get away from him. Meanwhile Becky is in the same boat as Jenna and it gives Jenna a looking glass of sorts. Dawn hasn't really dated to much and is going out on blind dates and I think that her notion of men was muddled by her friends. As soon as she gave them a chance things got better.

Overall early on I thought this would be a lot like the movie The Good Girl which is another movie I like. And it was, but very different at the same time. It also felt a bit like Juno. It was pretty heartwarming and I did chuckle a couple times. The movie has a modern feel and a 50sish feel too with old buses, the diner, uniforms and neon lights. It's not laugh out loud funny but it's worth your time. Also I don't know how they could make a car horn sound anymore irritating but they did it. Finally wanted to give a shout out to Andy Griffith who does a excellent job as Joe (owner of the diner), he acts as a mentor of sorts but is old so of course he' s a bit of a grump.

Acting: 9/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Rated PG (ONT) PG-13 (USA)

P.S. To finish on a sad note, at the end of the credits I noticed a In Loving Memory of... and decided to see who it was. It turns out it was Adrienne Shelly who directed the movie and played Dawn (my favourite character from the movie). She was murdered in November 2006 and was only 40.