Waitress (PG-13)
Mike:
Scott:
Scott: Tonight we are reviewing Waitress
, a story about a small town waitress who is unhappily married and unexpectedly pregnant.
What did you think Mike?
Mike: I loved this movie. It's funny and quirky and touching all wrapped together.
How about you?
Scott: It didn't do it for me. It had some humor, but it just didn't have 'It'.
Mike: Explain what you mean by 'It'.
Scott: When I see a movie I like, there is something that sets itself apart from all of the other movies. This didn't have that. I never was emotionally involved with the characters, and that's important in this kind of movie. I liken this movie to a movie about an ordinary event in an ordinary person's life that we simply watched through the store front window.
Mike: I am completely opposite of you on this one. I thought this movie had me very emotionally involved. Also, I don't think any of the lives in this movie were ordinary. I will also disagree about watching through a window, unless it was a fun house mirror. This movie is very stylized.
Scott: What I meant by window is that I felt we never touched or interacted with the characters, they were always at a distance.
Mike: Even the way people talked in this movie wasn't ordinary and I think the quirkiness of this movie is what caught my attention. Maybe I placed myself and people I know into the situation, but I didn't feel disconnected.
I love the cast of this movie.
Scott: The lead in the movie is waitress Jenna, played by Keri Russell. Apparently, she is a magician when it comes to making pies, something I know nothing about.
Mike: I think that Russell will be the lead in many movies after the performance she gives here. I admit that I wanted a piece of pie really badly after we left the theater. Watching this movie I fell in love with Russell in the same way I was captivated by Natalie Portman in Garden State.
Scott: That movie had the 'It' I was talking about. I really loved that movie and everything I said didn't happen with this movie, happened with that one.
Mike: That's funny, because this movie made me think of that movie a number of times.
Scott: The other two waitresses in the shop where Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Adrienne Shelly). Shelly also wrote and directed the movie.
Mike: This was Shelly's third movie as the triple threat of writer-director-actor. Unfortunately, it is also her last, as she was murdered during the time between the wrap of the film and its release.
Scott: Her murder was made into an episode of Law & Order. In a strange coincidence, she actually appeared in a Law & Order not that long ago.
Mike: The real tragedy is that I think this film would have gotten her noticed on a large scale.
Scott: I did like her in the movie though. I thought she played to her strengths well.
Mike: She is very funny.
Scott: I would classify her as quirky.
Mike: Lest everyone thinks that this movie is nothing but women, there are some nice male performances as well.
Nathan Fillion, Jeremy Sisto and Andy Griffith give strong performances.
Scott: Sisto is her ill-tempered husband Earl. I think the guy could annoy a tree stump.
Last I saw Sisto he was in the under-watched and eventually canceled Kidnapped, a show I really liked.
Mike: With Sisto it is scary, how jerky a guy he plays. It made me think a lot about his role on Six Feet Under as a very disturbed Billy Chenowith.
Scott: I don't know that he loves his wife, but I know he loves having a wife. Especially one who will cook for him every night.
Mike: Yes he is a selfish, bad tempered, butt head.
One of the best performances in the movie is Andy Griffith.
Yes, I said it, Andy "Mayberry" Griffith.
Scott: Griffith was great in this movie. After his performance I would be surprised if we don't see him in more movies.
Mike: Griffith is not what you expect. It actually takes you a few minutes to realize who he is, when you see him.
Scott: Griffith is Old Joe, the owner of the pie shop where Jenna works. From the sound of it, he owns just about everything else in the small town as well.
Mike: Everybody thinks he's a nasty old jerk, but Jenna sees the real Joe and it leads to a nice relationship between the two.
Scott: He is very perceptive about her life as well, and I think that helps them bond.
Mike: Yes, but the relationship is both funny and heartfelt.
I am a little biased when it comes to Nathan Fillion (Dr. Pomatter), because I really liked him in Serenity and the Firefly TV show.
Scott: He is Jenna's OBGYN. In what has to cross some kind of doctor/patient line, they end up having an affair. I never thought about it before, but I guess being an OBGYN is a good way to pick up women?
Mike: I admit that I have a few personal issues with the adultery side of the movie.
Scott: It didn't bother me as much as it normally would, but that's more in response to not getting too involved in the movie.
Mike: So what do you rate this?
Scott: I give this a 2 overall and a 1.5 for romantic comedy. What about you?
Mike: I am on the opposite side from you on this. I give the movie a 4 overall and a 4 for romantic comedy. Although it is more of a comedy with some romance than a romantic comedy.
Let Waitress serve you a sweet slice of a movie this weekend.
