Review of Waitress (2007) by Andrew S — 07 Apr 2010

I'm a fan of illustrations of people settling. "The Waitress" showed me an optimistic, honorable way to settle. She divorces her smothering husband and aspires to pursue her passion for baking pies. And I liked that she was restrained by some code of conduct which dictated that she should raise her daughter and cut her affair with Dr. Pomatter short. It was good to see that because a lot of break-from-mediocrity stories involve going hardcore and dedicating yourself wholly to live at a higher level, or settling with what you do have. Jenna has a driving force to pursue her love of pies but doesn't aspire to be a pie-making mogul or anything dramatic. She wants a simple life, and she gets it.

The movie also was great for the scenery and the characters. The movie does this thing where Jenna daydreams about her day, and we see a pie being created to reflect her thoughts. These scenes are visually enticing, but rather surprisingly, the recipes are unusual yet tasty. I also like the one-liners, eg: "I don't have people I love. Just people I live with." Also, "I can't have coffee. It's on the bad foods list you gave me. What kind of doctor are you?" "Is it just me or does my left one seem droopier than the other? I look like something Picasso drew." (Last one paraphrased). Also, the music was sparse and-by contrasting so sharply with the rural, tiny town-helped build the comic undertone. Also, the characters say their comical lines so seriously!

And lastly, the characters were fun, and interacted with each other to really build up the psychological aspect of the movie. The smothering, insecure husband, the waitress who knows what she wants but is trapped, the "best friends" who are shallow and not very helpful, the cranky but surprisingly observant old man were just great. Each plays a comically exaggerated role of people we deal with in our lives, but in a purer form.