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Created Dec 06, 2007 04:11PM PST • Edited Dec 06, 2007 04:11PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   To Jenna (Russell), baking is an art and pie is her favorite canvas. She uses precision and care into each step. Jenna works at a local pie shop where she waitresses and makes the pies. There are nearly 30 regular flavors not to mention that she invents a new flavor and makes it every day. Jenna is very creative and combines foods that don’t seem like they should go together. However, everyone claims that her pies are the most delicious thing they have ever tasted. To some it is really an experience to eat one. Jenna works with two good friends of hers, Dawn (Shelly) and Becky (Hines). This is where Jenna’s life goes downhill though. Her manager is always bitter and angry. Work is supposed to be her way out of a hostile environment. Her husband, Earl (Sister) is horrid to her. He takes all of her money and won’t let her have anything of her own. Earl is a extremely possessive man. He thinks of Jenna as his property and that she should serve his every need. Earl is never there for her. She goes along with things and agrees to what he wants. Jenna is afraid of him and she has no money to get out.
   Jenna plans on getting out in a couple of months, hoping she can win a pie making contest. When she finds out that she is pregnant that money becomes as critical as ever. She doesn’t even plan on telling her husband about the baby. The only people who know are Dawn, Becky, and the owner of the pie shop, Old Joe (Griffith). Everyone else besides Jenna, just thinks of Joe as a pain. He can be very nagging, but she has a way of getting the best of him. Her life complicates even more though when she is assigned a new doctor. Doctor Pomatter (Fillion) replaces the doctor she had for 20 years. At first Jenna is uncomfortable with this. There just seems to be something about Dr. Pomatter that isn’t quite right. This tension between the two of them escalates in to an affair. At first, it is just for sexual relief since Jenna hasn’t actually enjoyed sex in quite some time. It becomes more than that though. Dr. Pomatter allows Jenna to get her feelings out and vent for once. She can say what she means and can feel like it matters to someone. They talk about going away and starting a new life. Jenna realizes though that even if her spouse is no good it is no reason to put Dr. Pomatter’s wife through pain. Dr. Pomatter does helps her gain strength and learn that a better life isn’t so out of the question.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Keri Russell did a wonderful job as Jenna. Her character was held back so much by her fear. It caused her years of unhappiness and a feeling of confinement. Yet Jenna had an amazing talent and artistic spirit that was just dying to get out; it just forgot how to fight for freedom. Jeremy Sisto as Earl is the one who has broken her down so far. He is a very aggressive and self-absorbed person. It is aggravating but we are able to understand why Jenna is scared. It seems like there is an even worse side of him that could do even more harm. Nathan Fillion and Keri Russell really didn’t have all that much chemistry, but he helped bring out courage in Jenna. Cheryl Hines played her concerned but questionably promiscuous friend. Adrienne Shelly played Dawn, she was awkward but very caring. She was a unique character who displayed that happiness can be found in unlikely places.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Much of Waitress is a struggle. Jenna is a very likeable character and it is easy to care about her. Those bringing her down seem monstrous for doing so. Jenna doesn’t want anything to do with her baby at first. This is really an attempt to gain some sort of independence. It seems like it is just another thing that could hold her back. Jenna also questions whether she will be a good mother or not. Something happens when her child is in her arms though. She suddenly gets all of the strength in the world. This leads up to a dazzling ending.
    Jenna’s baking was treated very delicately in the film. The way it was portrayed was a symbol of that one thing that everyone lives for. It is different for every person. It is what you are passionate about; that has a power of joy that seems out of the ordinary. Its turns the mundane in to something marvelous. This is what Jenna’s life could be. Rather than being a prisoner to her disrespectful husband, she could be finding endless happiness in the simplest things. The visuals in particular of the close ups of when Jenna is baking are a very well done. The colors are enhanced and the world seems to slow down. We go in to Jenna’s state of mind. It is like we are with her through her process and the lifting up away from all of the negativity surrounding her life. Baking is Jenna’s escape, and the audience’s escape is Waitress.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

    There are quite a few sexual scenes in the film. There are those between Jenna and her doctor, Jenna and her husband, and a surprise couple that have been hiding their love. Not much of that last couple is actually witnessed. Jenna and her doctor continue to have these moments though. There are actually only a few occurances of sex between Jenna and her husband but they are the most unpleasant. She obviously has no love for him, only hate. He ruins her life and takes away any hope for getting free of him continually. Earl pushes sex constantly. If Jenna says she doesn’t feel good or is tired he tells her it is not as if she has a choice. So when it occurs after this it is pushing borderline rape, which obviously makes it very uncomfortable. The violence comes from Earl as well. Most of it is towards Jenna although he seems to be an angry individual in general.

17. Sex Erotic 3.0

18. Violence Brutal 3.0

19. Rudeness Profane 3.0

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    It was a very realistic film since the situation wasn’t all that out there. When in abusive relationships many women try to find love in another place, which is where the affair comes in. It is natural that Jenna feels trapped by Earl though. He takes her money and is very intimidating, making it very hard for her to get out. The town itself seemed like many small towns might where everyone knows each other. The people seemed and acted like many people would given their life and issues they are trying to work through.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0