| Waitress | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Adrienne Shelly |
| Written by | Adrienne Shelly |
| Produced by | Michael Roiff |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Matthew Irving |
| Edited by | Annette Davey |
| Music by | Andrew Hollander |
Production company | Night & Day Pictures |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 104 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.5 million[2] |
| Box office | $22 million[1] |
Waitress is a 2007 Americancomedy drama film written and directed byAdrienne Shelly, starringKeri Russell as a young woman trapped in a small town and an abusive marriage, who faces an unwanted pregnancy while working as a waitress.
The film premiered at the2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it was accepted before Shelly's 2006 murder.[3]Waitress received alimited theatrical release in the United States on May 2, 2007, byFox Searchlight Pictures. Shelly's supporting role is her final film appearance.
In 2015,Waitress was adapted into aTony-nominatedmusical of the same name.
Waitress Jenna Hunterson lives in theAmerican South, trapped in an unhappy marriage with herabusive husband, Earl. She works in Joe's Pie Diner, where her job includes creating inventive pies with titles inspired by her life, such as the "Bad Baby Pie" she invents after herunintended pregnancy is confirmed. Jenna longs to run away from her marriage and is slowly accumulating money to do so. She pins her hopes for escape on a pie contest in a nearby town, which offers a $25,000 grand prize. However, her husband will not let her go. Jenna's only friends are co-workers Becky and Dawn, and Joe, the owner of the diner and other businesses, who is a regular customer of Jenna's.
Jenna's life changes after she meets her newobstetrician, Jim Pomatter. He has moved to that town to accommodate his wife, who is completing herresidency at the local hospital, and is filling in for the woman who has been Jenna's doctor since childhood. The two are attracted to each other, and over the course of several prenatal appointments the attraction grows. The two eventually initiate anaffair.
Prompted by her co-workers' gift of a baby journal, Jenna begins to keep a diary, ostensibly as letters to her unborn child, revealing her inner thoughts and plans.Upon learning she is pregnant, Earl demands Jenna promise never to love the baby more than him. Jenna also bonds with her manager, Cal the cook, when she fearfully informs him of her pregnancy, only to discover he already knows and always planned to keep her employed.
At Dawn's wedding at the diner, Earl interrupts the celebration and demands Jenna leave at once. Earl drives Jenna home and confronts her, having found Jenna's stashes of cash throughout the house. Reluctantly, Jenna says that the money was for the baby, which forces her to spend it to conceal its true purpose. Distraught, she flees to Dr. Pomatter. As they fantasize about running away together, Jenna'swater breaks.
At the hospital, Jenna discovers Joe is also a patient undergoing anelective procedure; he hands her an envelope with instructions not to open it until after the baby is born. Much to her dismay, she is also greeted by Dr. Pomatter's wife, who is rounding with other residents. Jenna then begs Dr. Pomatter to administer as manydrugs as possible so she will not feel a thing.
Jenna gives birth to a baby girl. When she holds her newborn for the first time, Jenna's ambivalence melts into a full-blown bond with her daughter, whom she names Lulu. Earl, disappointed that it is a girl, reminds Jenna of her coerced promise not to love the baby more than she does him. Jenna says she has not loved him in years, will no longer put up with his abuse, and will not let Lulu grow up with his mistreating her, and wants a divorce. Enraged, Earl attempts to assault Jenna, but is escorted out of the hospital bysecurity staff.
Later, as Jenna prepares to leave the hospital, due to Earl refusing to pay her medical bills as retaliation for being kicked out, Becky and Dawn inform her Joe collapsed into acoma during his procedure. Jenna then remembers Joe's envelope. In it, she finds a card with a sketch of her, inscribed "To my only friend, start fresh", along with a check for $270,450.
While leaving the hospital, Dr. Pomatter asks her about their future. She decides to end their relationship, informing him of the enormous trust she sensed from his wife. She then hands him a chocolateMoon Pie and asks her friends to wheel her out. Jenna later wins the contest, and turns the diner into a new restaurant named "Lulu's Pies", and she and Lulu walk home happily.
"SeeingWaitress at Sundance was a really emotional experience. The typical format for the festival is that the director is introduced to say a few words before the film begins. It was painful from the beginning to see that there was no director to introduce the film since Adrienne had died. So the producer and Adrienne's husband Andy talked about how it had been Adrienne's dream to have a film at Sundance. It was very poignant".
–Nancy Utley,COO atFox Searchlight[4]
The film was accepted into the2007 Sundance Film Festival, though its premiere was "bittersweet" because writer/director Adrienne Shelly, who also played Dawn in the film, was murdered on November 1, 2006, less than three months before its debut[5] and just before she was about to learn the film had been accepted into the festival.[4] Its success there ledFox Searchlight Pictures to acquire the distribution rights for $4–5 million.[6] It opened theU.S. Comedy Arts Festival.[6]
The film received mostly positive reviews, with an 89% "Fresh" rating among the 174 critic reviews tracked byRotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The consensus reads: "Sweet, smart, and quirky,Waitress hits the right, bittersweet notes through this romantic comedy through its witty script and a superb performance by Keri Russell".[7] The film also made the site's list of Top 100 films for 2007.[8] It was rated 75 out of 100 atMetacritic.[9]Waitress was called a "good-hearted, well-made comedy"[10] brimming with "quality star wattage".[11]
Mick LaSalle called it a "great American film" that transcends its "air of whimsicality and its emphasis on small-town characters and humble locations".[12]
Keri Russell's performance in the film partly inspired casting directorAndrea Romano to cast her as the voice ofWonder Woman in the 2009 animated filmWonder Woman.[13]
In 2024,IndieWire included it on its list of the "Best American Independent Films of the 21st Century," with Sarah Shachat calling it a "pretty simple story with big emotions, told with a camera that finds just the right perspective to make it funny, winsome, and sincere all at once. It’s proof that small-scale filmmaking has nothing to do with how good something can taste."[14]
| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AARP Movies for Grownups Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Andy Griffith | Nominated | [15] |
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists | Best Woman Screenwriter | Adrienne Shelly | Nominated | [16] [17] |
| Best Leap from Actress to Director Award | Nominated | |||
| Women's Image Award | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry | Nominated | |||
| Lifetime Achievement Award | Nominated | |||
| Best Breakthrough Performance | Keri Russell | Nominated | ||
| Best Seduction | Keri Russell andNathan Fillion | Nominated | ||
| Chlotrudis Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Adrienne Shelly | Nominated | [18] |
| Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast | Won | |||
| Deauville American Film Festival | Grand Prix | Adrienne Shelly | Nominated | [19] |
| Detroit Film Critics Society Awards | Best Ensemble | Nominated | [20] | |
| Best Newcomer | Adrienne Shelly | Nominated | ||
| Houston Film Critics Society Awards | Best Original Song | "Baby Don't You Cry" | Nominated | [21] |
| Humanitas Prize | Sundance Feature Film | Nominated | [22] | |
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best Screenplay | Adrienne Shelly | Nominated | [23] |
| Locarno Film Festival | Audience Award | Nominated | [24] | |
| National Board of Review Awards | Top 10 Independent Films | Won | [25] | |
| Newport Beach Film Festival | Best Feature | Won | [26] | |
| Best Acting | Nathan Fillion | Won | ||
| Sarasota Film Festival | Narrative Feature | Adrienne Shelly | Won | [27] |
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards | Wyatt Award | Won | [28] | |
| St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards | Best Comedy or Musical Film | Nominated | [29] | |
A stage musical was written based on the film. The musical opened at theAmerican Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Massachusetts, running from August 2 to September 27, 2015. The music and lyrics are written bySara Bareilles, with the book byJessie Nelson.Diane Paulus directed, with choreography by Chase Brock, sets byScott Pask, costumes by Suttirat Larlarb and lighting by Ken Posner. The original A.R.T. cast featuredJessie Mueller as Jenna,Drew Gehling as Dr. Pomatter,Dakin Matthews as Joe,Keala Settle as Becky,Kimiko Glenn as Dawn,Eric Anderson as Cal,Christopher Fitzgerald as Ogie andNick Cordero as Earl.[30][31]
The musical opened onBroadway at theBrooks Atkinson Theatre, with previews starting on March 25, 2016, and the show officially opening on April 24 and closing on January 5, 2020. Mueller, Gehling, Matthews, Settle, and Anderson all returned from the A.R.T production, as well as Glenn as Dawn, Fitzgerald as Ogie, and Cordero as Earl.[32] It returned for a limited engagement at theEthel Barrymore Theatre from September 2-December 22, 2021 as part of the efforts to slowly reopen Broadway after it wasshut down for over a year due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. This remounting starred Bareilles (September 2 - October 17) andJennifer Nettles (October 29 - December 22) as Jenna,[33] with most of the principal cast reprising their roles. It was also done to record the production for a future public release, withSTEAM Motion + Sound producingthe film. It premiered at theTribeca Film Festival in June 2023,[34][35][36][37] ahead of alimited theatrical release on December 7 of the same year.
