Movie Review for Waitress

Summary: As a favorite waitress at Joe's Diner, Jenna is also a "pie genius," naming her tantalizing confections after the tumultuous events and emotions of her daily life. She's hoping that one of her pastries, like her "Kick In The Pants" Pie, might even change her life--if she can just win that $25,000 pie contest. But when Jenna discovers that she's pregnant, she immediately bakes an "I Don't Want Earl's Baby" Pie--a quiche of egg and cheese with a smoked ham center. After all, her husband Earl is a jealous jerk that is essentially a child himself, and the last thing they need to do is start a family together. But the pregnancy eventually changes the course of events in her life, giving her an unexpected and newfound confidence via letters to her unborn baby.

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Marcy Dermansky of About.com (8/0)
            Shelly's death makes me want to treat this movie with kid gloves, to root for it, turn it into so...

By John Wirt of Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) (8/0)
            Writer-director-co-star Adrienne Shelly and her talented co-workers serve many charming scenes in...

By Brian Webster of Apollo Guide (8/0)
            Keri Russell is excellent. Not every actor can play a would-be mother who doesn't want her child ...

By Phil Villarreal of Arizona Daily Star (8/0)
            Writer/director Adrienne Shelly's "Waitress" serves up a slice of movietime heaven.

By Christy Lemire of Associated Press (5/3)
            Its heart is absolutely in the right place, and it strikes some real emotional truths. It will ma...

By Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/0)
            This wonderfully comic, unfailingly perceptive little sleeper serves up loads of charm -- and muc...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/0)
            As a gently fitting requiem for an unspeakable loss, it's perfect.

By Lori Hoffman of Atlantic City Weekly (8/0)
            Waitress combines the sensuality of food-as-love flicks Like Water For Chocolate and Chocolat wit...

By Marrit Ingman of Austin Chronicle (8/0)
            The movie doesn’t stand in judgment of its characters, which will probably disappoint audiences w...

By Catherine Chambers of BBC (7/0)
            Despite getting off to a good start with an entertaining premise, Waitress ultimately promises mo...

By Ty Burr of Boston Globe (8/0)
            The movie is as warm and flaky as a homemade pie, and fashioned with as much love.

By Jim Hall of Channel 4 Film (6/1)
            Sweet-tasting without being too sickly, though at 104 minutes, a smaller portion might have gone ...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Teresa Budasi of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            We can only take comfort in the little slice of heaven she left behind.

By Michael Wilmington of Chicago Tribune (8/0)
            ...a scrumptious romantic comedy...

By Camerin Courtney of Christianity Today (8/0)
            A light and airy confection, only a bit too sweet and with a few ingredients missing.

By James Rocchi of Cinematical (8/0)
            Good-hearted, well-made comedy that will hopefully lead a broader audience to find the work [dire...

By Nick Schager of Cinematical (8/0)
            Russell delicately maintains Waitress' mixture of aching drama and bubbly comedy.

By Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid (8/0)
            Using a style that faintly echoes Hartley's, Shelly beautifully balances deadpan humor, pathos an...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net (8/0)
            Cute, sweet and witty ... it certainly will leave you wanting more and saddened that this was She...

By Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing (8/0)
            Where Shelly excels is in her ability to dig beneath sitcom scenarios and focus on some hard trut...

By Christopher Tookey of Daily Mail [UK] (7/0)
            Waitress isn't perfect, but it has sincerity and warmth, and feels like a labour of love - which ...

By Michael Booth of Denver Post (7/0)
            So why does it work, at least much of the time? Because of Russell, and because Shelly's uneven t...

By Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News (7/0)
            Look, Waitress is no groundbreaker, and it's not likely to change anyone's life. But it provides ...

By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (8/0)
            Waitress has some unexpected twists and turns and features some refreshingly offbeat humor, as we...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Caroline Kepnes of E! Online (8/0)
            A relatable story--pie chef gets pregnant and cheats on her no good husband--told with such confi...

By Erik Childress of eFilmCritic.com (8/0)
            Casting directors who see Waitress and don't move Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion far up on their...

By Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic.com (8/0)
            I loved this movie. Loved every last character, twist, kiss, joke and pie found within it.

By Emanuel Levy of EmanuelLevy.Com (8/0)
            A superb turn from Kerri Russell and a strong one from Nathan Fillion aren't enough to redeem th...

By Olly Richards of Empire Magazine (7/0)
            An unassuming treat amid the noisy blockbuster season. It’ll melt your heart and any dietary reso...

By Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (8/0)
            ...a delectable Dixie screwball romp that never loses its spry sense of discovery.

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (8/0)
            The ending is both realistic and happy -- and I do mean happy, as in, make-you-cry, exit-the-thea...

By Eugene Novikov of Film Blather (8/0)
            The movie finds a real hook in Jenna, and a real elegance in its simple, direct message: take loo...

By Jeremy Mathews of Film Threat (8/0)
            Full of off-kilter characters who don't talk like anyone in real life, but sound a truthful chord...

By Jesse Hassenger of filmcritic.com (8/0)
            a lovely, bittersweet parting gift

By Anderson Jones of FilmStew.com (8/0)
            The pregancy news depresses her, which is exactly the opposite response of women in most chick fl...

By Nigel Andrews of Financial Times (7/0)
            You need a hard stomach sometimes in American romcoms. Equally, though, you’d need a hard heart n...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher (8/0)
            It has a feeling of... I don't want to say secret insight about the experience of being a woman, ...

By Bill Clark of FromTheBalcony (8/0)
            It's the kind of sly, witty independent gem that rolls through every few years, lighting up crowd...

By Eric Lurio of Greenwich Village Gazette (8/0)
            Whether or not one should take one's significant other to see it is questionable, because the cha...

By Peter Bradshaw of Guardian [UK] (7/0)
            You've heard of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. This is My Big Thin White Abusive Marriage.

By Ross Anthony of Hollywood Report Card (8/0)
            A quirky comedy with emotional impact. One of my favorite genres actually. Tight direction, stron...

By Michael Rechtshaffen of Hollywood Reporter (8/0)
            ... a down-home romantic comedy served up fresh and tasty.

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (8/0)
            A delicious little movie that will have you savoring every tasty morsel.

By Liz Braun of Jam! Movies (8/0)
            Waitress is a pastel-coloured fairytale about love and pie-baking. And fresh choices.

By Beth Accomando of KPBS.org (7/0)
            Shelly pens dialogue that has both sass and a down home country matter of factness. She conveys t...

By Ella Taylor of L.A. Weekly (8/0)
            Washed in a honeyed 1950s glow, Waitress has a mildly puckish way with outlandish baked goods and...

By Prairie Miller of Long Island Press (8/0)
            A wacky homage to the frustrated hopes of blue collar women, that seduces the audience with scrum...

By Mark Dujsik of Mark Reviews Movies (8/0)
            Full of verve, warmth, and a genuine love of life, and it is a fitting eulogy to a life cut short...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Pete Hammond of Maxim (8/0)
            A bright , easy to like technicolored comedy that details the simple truths of trying to find hap...

By Matt Pais of Metromix.com (8/0)
            The ending is a bigger cheat than a diner charging for coffee refills.

By Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (8/0)
            A lot like its heroine's humorously named pie creations -- just different enough to be distinctiv...

By Michael Elliott of Movie Parables (7/0)
            As frothy as one of Jenna's meringues.

By Ted Murphy of Murphy's Movie Reviews (8/0)
            Even with its flaws, WAITRESS is a fitting tribute to the quirky independent spirit that Shelly b...

By Anton Bitel of musicOMH.com (7/0)
            no amount of quality service can cover up a slice of life that has been so overbaked.

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Elizabeth Weitzman of New York Daily News (8/0)
            While Shelly's stylized vision and sentimental intentions don't always gel, they do result in a w...

By David Edelstein of New York Magazine (8/0)
            An overstuffed, overcooked pie -- too ungainly to eat all of, too generous to pass up, too heartb...

By A. O. Scott of New York Times (8/0)
            ...blends familiar elements into something both satisfying and surprising.

By Jeffrey Westhoff of Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) (8/0)
            A celebration of cheating on your spouse.

By Brian Orndorf of OhmyNews.com (7/1)
            Waitress is finely tuned, assured, wonderfully silly, and every bit as lovely as Shelly was.

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (8/0)
            Boasts a distinctive style and tone, but the style is arch and quaint, and the tone too insistent...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Keith Phipps of Onion AV Club (8/0)
            Though contrived and artificial in ways that don't always work, the film is also heartfelt and ma...

By John Thomason of Orlando Weekly (8/0)
            In the pantheon of forced quirk, no American indie tried as hard to be different as Garden State,...

By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (8/0)
            Tells about bad marriages and life disappointments.

By Jeanne Aufmuth of Palo Alto Weekly (7/1)
            Inconsistent overtones lean precariously close to cute yet manage to surge both poignant and wist...

By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (8/0)
            Earl has to die. Or maybe not.

By Linda Cook of Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) (7/0)
            A young filmmaker whose life met a tragic end has served up what is bound to be one of the most s...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Karina Montgomery of rec.arts.movies.reviews (8/0)
            Bittersweet, lovely, sad, funny - and then we begin to mourn Adrienne Shelly's candle, snuffed to...

By Gary Goldstein of Reel.com (8/0)
            Waitress runs on a bit, but with its strong acting, poignant moments, and fair share of laughs, i...

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (8/0)
            It is a bittersweet experience watching the uniquely adorable "Waitress" because indie actress Ad...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (8/0)
            ...a pleasant dramatic comedy that overcomes its tonal inconsistencies by presenting an engaging ...

By Jack Garner of Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (8/0)
            Order up a slice of the best pie this side of heaven, and enjoy a nice movie of bittersweet satis...

By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (8/0)
            This sweetheart of a comedy boasts a hilarious and heartfelt performance by Keri Russell...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Jim Lane of Sacramento News & Review (7/0)
            ...it's appeal outweighs its flaws...

By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (8/0)
            There are times when the spirit of a movie is enough to get you gliding over its obvious flaws. W...

By Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle (8/0)
            A great American film.

By Eric Melin of Scene-Stealers.com (8/0)
            Shelly's sharp take on a pregnant woman's inner misgivings keeps Waitress from delving into the m...

By Sean Axmaker of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (8/0)
            Keri Russell is sweetly melancholy...

By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            Shelly astutely examines mother-daughter issues, keeping us laughing before delivering her emotio...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (8/0)
            Comedy and tragedy exist side-by-side in this drab little film, suggesting an SNL alum's reinterp...

By Dana Stevens of Slate (8/0)
            A feminist fairy tale about a woman learning to develop her creative gifts while trapped in a sti...

By Phoebe Flowers of South Florida Sun-Sentinel (8/0)
            Waitress shows Shelly, just 40 when she was killed, to be a filmmaker of poise and promise. It's ...

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Practice (8/0)
            Does what a great romantic comedy should do: steal your heart and send you on your way rejoicing....

By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (8/0)
            Genial and appealing...Keri Russell essays a heroine that is worth rooting for and caring about.

By Derek Malcolm of This is London (7/0)
            The pies themselves, produced in all the colours of a rainbow - look disgustingly plastic.

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Derek Malcolm of This is London (7/0)
            The pies themselves, produced in all the colours of a rainbow - look disgustingly plastic.

By Richard Schickel of TIME Magazine (8/0)
            There's something spunky about those pies and there's something spunky about Waitress in general.

By James Christopher of Times [UK] (7/0)
            Despite the fairy-tale manipulation, it’s hard not to be moved.

By Tony Medley of Tolucan Times (8/0)
            ...just another in a growing list of recent films where all the women are wonderful, understandin...

By Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide's Movie Guide (8/0)
            There no way around it: Russell's performance is spunky and just about irresistible, no matter ho...

By Dennis Harvey of Variety (7/0)
            This tale of a pregnant small-town woman caught between a bad marriage and a risky affair is most...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Steve Crum of Video-Reviewmaster.com (8/0)
            Adrienne Shelly has borrowed from her Jenna and taken familiar sitcom ingredients to fashion her ...

By Willie Waffle of WaffleMovies.com (8/0)
            has a fun, whimsical side to it (and lots of scrumptious looking pies), but also tackles some hea...

By Paul Farhi of Washington Post (6/1)
            Among the joys here are the supporting players, each with well-defined stories and quirky persona...

By Daniel M. Kimmel of Worcester Telegram & Gazette (8/0)
            Like a healthy slice of pie, it is meant to be savored.

By Susan Granger of www.susangranger.com (8/0)
            Truly scrumptious!

By John Beifuss of Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Watching 'Waitress,' we can believe Shelly herself was a 'queen of kindness and goodness,' and we...

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (5/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            A gentle film that never strains for laughs but that gets plenty of them.

By Christopher Smith of Bangor Daily News (Maine) (5/2) No reference
            A damn good movie pie.

By Ray Greene of Boxoffice Magazine (3/5) No reference
            Waitress is a real actor’s movie, with each part written with great elan to have its own psycholo...

By Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader (6/2) No reference
            The film isn't averse to reaching for Hollywood fantasies, but there's a lot of what seems to be ...

By James Sanford of Kalamazoo Gazette (7/1) No reference
            While the luminous Russell finds Jenna's heartaches and unexpressed sorrows, she also taps into h...

By Bob Strauss of Los Angeles Daily News (7/1) No reference
            Sometimes one really fine performance can save a whole movie, and that's the case with Waitress.

                         Reviews of Waitress
By Lisa Rose of Newark Star-Ledger (3/5) No reference
            Heartfelt and intelligent, with a pinch of whimsy.

By Mike Russell of Oregonian (7/1) No reference
            It's weird to write that a movie chock-full of adultery, stalking, spousal abuse and hatred of th...

By Gary Thompson of Philadelphia Daily News (7/1) No reference
            Waitress has a sneaky way of sorting this all out. It also has an undeniably good heart, and it's...

By Mike Ward of Richmond.com (7/1) No reference
            Waitress exists in a fictional film universe that many movies strive for but few actually reach, ...

By Carla Meyer of Sacramento Bee (7/1) No reference
            In Waitress, the late writer-director Adrienne Shelly crafted a highly entertaining yet poignant ...

By John Hartl of Seattle Times (3/5) No reference
            This is an ensemble piece in which everyone is allowed to shine.

                         Reviews of Waitress
By David Fear of Time Out New York (4/4) No reference
            As a fable of female empowerment, it seriously lacks flavor.

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (6/2) Not Reachable
            If 'Waitress,' like 'Alice,' is sitcomish, then let's hear it for sitcoms. The pic is a delight ...

By Mary F. Pols of Contra Costa Times (5/3) Not Reachable
            How ironic that woman who was the victim of such bad fortune and terrible cruelty would leave the...

By Connie Ogle of Miami Herald (7/1) Not Reachable
            As satisfying and tasty as the pies baked with love (and sometimes hate, anger and frustration) b...

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