waitress

I confess I saw this movie as a show of support for Nathan Fillion, the great actor who was in the
not-so-great “Serenity” based on a truly great show, “Firefly.” I did not see this movie for Keri
Russell, the decent actress who was in the not so great show “Felicity.” Do I regret seeing this film?
No. Will I watch it again? No.

Russell plays a waitress in a small hick town in some unspecified part of the South. She has a weak
Southern accent that floats in and out while those around her play caricatures of Southern hicks,
with overblown accents and vacuous expressions on their faces. The acting between Russell and
her two female friends is over the top really. At times, it’s amateurish, as if the director, who does
not innovate with the camera at all, did some scenes in one take. It would be polite to call the acting
stylized, but I can’t afford to be nice.

Russell’s husband is a mean, selfish dullard who beats her, is insecure and demanding and a big
child. She hates him, but she can’t leave him because she’s pregnant. She meets Fillion, the new
doctor in town, for medical checkups and ends up getting into an affair with him. Yes, once again
Hollywood glorifies adultery.

“Waitress” doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a dark comedy about domestic struggle and
infidelity, a story of female empowerment, a story of human weakness all around? Who knows and
sadly, after seeing it, who cares?

The film voices the message that affairs are cavalier events that are justified because they make
people happy, though at the end of the film, Russell has the epiphany that they’re not good, but
other evidence at the end suggests they are anyway. We also never find out why Fillion is so
casually and without concern cheating on his wife, who ends up being a great person, unlike
Russell’s husband. I guess Fillion is really just a charismatic scumbag who changes Russell’s life for
the better and never acts negatively toward her but is still having this unexplained affair. His
character doesn’t jive with his actions. It’s all unmotivated drama.

Fillion and, of all people, Andy Griffith, save the film from total mediocrity with great performances
and both appear to be having real fun in their roles. I could tell Griffith really enjoyed playing the
old man in this movie.

I can’t give away the ending, but it’s contrary to the tone of the rest of the film and I also take issue
with the fact that Russell’s character can’t make a decision on her own and two men, Fillion and
Griffith, try to help her only so in the end she makes a grand statement that implies men are scum
and doesn’t need them. Great. Not my favorite film.