Waitress reviews (2007)

Waitress details

Format:	15 DVD
Starring:	Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith, Adrienne Shelly, Eddie Jemison
Director:	Adrienne Shelly
Genres:	Comedy - Romantic, Drama, Romance
Studio:	20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT

DVD 1 disc

Name	Discs
Waitress	15 Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	1 hour 47 minutes
Rental release:	28 Apr 2008
Main languages:	English, English Audio Description

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LOVEFiLM Review Waitress

By Tom Charity from LOVEFiLM

Keri Russell is the waitress of the title in this romantic comedy
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Most helpful review Waitress

Waitress

By SAI81 (360 reviews) from Tonbridge , 19 Aug 2007

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

[Highly rated reviewer]

Adrienne Shelly's fourth film as writer/director is one of those wonderful surprises that the cinema, every so often, hands to you. At first glance you've seen it all before; a woman (Russell) trapped in an unhappy marriage to a man she doesn't even like anymore (Sisto) who falls pregnant and looks for a way to escape the rut her life is in, perhaps through a relationship with the handsome new doctor in town (Fillion). As with so many things though Waitress is all in the execution.

Shelly's script just sparkles. It's loaded end to end with jokes, the great bulk of them laugh out loud funny. What makes Waitress stand out though is that all these jokes feel organic. These aren’t words put into people’s mouths, they come from the characters, each of whom establishes his or her own distinct voice. Shelly wisely keeps the direction simple for the most part and the film grounded solidly in reality, which allows the scripts broader moments to be easier to accept.

She’s also helped in this by her excellent cast. Keri Russell is an actress I’ve only seen briefly and, to be honest, never thought a great deal of. What a difference here. The whole movie rests on Russell’s shoulders and she’s brilliant in it. Jenna’s a cutie and a sweet person but Russell and Shelly refuse to make her perfect; she can be short tempered, she cheats on her husband with a married man and she doesn’t love her coming baby…. And yet Russell is so magnetic and funny that you can’t help but love Jenna and root for her every step of the way. Nathan Fillion is effective as the constantly on edge Dr Pomater and his effortless way with a one-liner, honed under Joss Whedon, is a gift for the movie. The pie diner at which Jenna works provides a strong supporting cast too with Cheryl Hines amusingly dense, but not a little touching, as Becky and Shelly herself, sweetly funny as Dawn. Also worth mentioning are scene nabbing turns from Eddie Jemison and from Andy Griffith.

Waitress, unlike most rom-coms, doesn’t offer simple answers. It doesn’t tie everything up in a nice neat bow with everyone happy and smiling as the credits roll. It’s much more interesting and shaded than that.

That said this is an amazingly sweet film, but one which manages to carry that tone off without becoming so sugary as to be cloying.

There is sadness behind Waitress though. This is the final film by Adrienne Shelly, soon after it was completed and mere days after its acceptance to the Sundance film festival Shelly was murdered in a senseless attack in her office. There could be no better tribute than this film, it’s as alive and as engaging as any released in a very long time and will ensure that though we won’t have any more films from this hugely promising writer/director we’ll remember and treasure this one at least.
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Light and simple feel-good fun comedy.Very average , but quite watchable

By roncoach (365 reviews) from suffolk , 16 Jul 2012

A good/average comedy that is well worth a watch if you feel in the mood for a fluffy light feel-good film.

There will always be a market for these films.......although they are so ordinary, probably better off on TV, they somehow epitomise ( albeit in a very humble way) what movies should be all about : harmless fun, escapism, totally implausible, entertaining, a pleasant way to spend an evening's viewing.

OK, they are a long way from a 5* masterpiece , but they are a damned sight better than the zombies in the morgue, or the teens in High School who all drive Porches and have foul-mouths, or the stark realism of drugs and sordidness in the inner city.

This particular movie is very light-weight, very easy-going, very silly in so many ways----it would be easy for the action warriors out there or the teeny brigade .....to cut to ribbons.

I could do so myself with ease. But I'm not going to.

In between seeing a great or really good film ( usually from many decades ago, that I've seen many times before) or the one or two new ones that come along every year nowadays, it is films like'Waitress' that keep many of us 'ticking over'

( at least in this particular romcom genre-------of course other lightweight 3* films of other genres do the same thing for us too, depending on what genre we feel like passing the time watching).

If you have something better to watch, something that has had its rating pushed up to the 4* rating, just keep films like 'Waitress' on your list to see sometime when you have nothing else but you want to get some entertainment.

If you haven't got anything better -----and these days, that's quite often------then watch 'Waitress' or similar.

The system works for me.........:)))
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Did not catch my attention

By a customer , 20 May 2012

I have to confess that I did not see all of this film and probably missed pieces crucial to the story (I fell asleep!) but what I did see did not interest me sufficiently to want to watch the film again another day and this time see all of it. It felt like a rather routine and humdrum film.
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pleasant enough

By jonny2hats (16 reviews) from yorkshire , 24 Feb 2012

Pleasant enough way to spend an hour and 47. Not sure of the health benefits of eating so much pie, and some of Jenna's creations look less than appetising. There's some genuinely funny lines, but some of the characters weren't totally believable. Still, we enjoyed it. At least they don't spoil it by having a ridiculous fairy tale ending.
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BORING PIE

By a customer , 14 Sep 2011

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Did not like this film one bit. Deep South Carolina where all your troubles are resolved by eating a 'piece of pie' what a load of rubbish. Would not recommend.
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Lovely deep south comedy drama

By a customer , 01 May 2011

I found this film so very endearing - probably because it stirred up so many memories of similar characters I actually met while driving through south carolina. I loved them all in the film - and the pie recipes that reflected the mood of the waitress. The diner reminded me of so many that I chanced upon, filled with obscure locals and great daily specials. The letter writing to the unwanted baby was a nice and funny touch. The grouchy diner owner stole the scenes in which he appeared. The two friends and their strange relationships added the comedy entertainment. And I think everyone has a friend who's married to or in a relationship with the husband. For once I even liked the schmaltzy, predictable american ending!
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