Thursday 3 March 2016

Waitress (2007 Adrienne Shelly & scr)

Not your average chick flick or romcom at all. I was beginning to think that all the men - the crass horn-honking, controlling husband Jeremy Sisto is just one - are horrible, then realised the girls aren't exactly painted in the best light either: our protagonist Keri Russell (rather good) is having an affair with a (seemingly) happily married man, colleagues Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly herself are respectively also having affair and settling for second best through lack of self-worth. So it's quite a muddy puddle, and the ending - whilst feel-good in a way - also clearly says 'You don't need a man to have a happy outcome'.

So all in all it's quite a subtle piece underneath all the exotic pies with unusual names, with the tragic added resonance that Shelly was murdered after the film was completed (and thus it's dedicated to her).

Andy Griffith (A Face in the Crowd; not quite his last film) and Nathan Fillion are in support. Shot colourfully by Matthew Irving.

Shelly's final script was made into the not brilliantly reviewed Meg Ryan film Serious Moonlight two years later by Cheryl Hines.

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