Waitress (2007)

A Pie With A Heart in the Middle

Waitress Jenna (Keri Russell), trapped in a horrible marriage to the abusive Earl (Jeremy Sisto), is trying to find a way out, away from Earl and out of the small Southern town when she finds out she's pregnant.

She continues her day-to-day life, waitressing and making the most imaginative and talked-about pies at Joe's Pie Cafe and dreams that she might have a chance to win the $25,000 prize for the coming pie bake-off. Meanwhile she shares her anxiety with co-workers Becky (Cheryl Hines) and the pasty, pale, plain Dawn (Adrienne Shelley), deals with her bossy manager Cal (Lew Temple) and befriends the curmudgeonly old Joe (Andy Griffith) who owns the pie cafe.

Things get complicated when Jenna and the new doctor in town, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) have a deep affair and very much desire a future together.

The pie-making scenes behind the opening credits and some of the other pie-making scenes are among the most sensual food scenes I've seen since Like Water for Chocolate.

One of my favorite monologues in the film was when Jenna was writing a letter to her unborn child:
Dear Baby,
I hope someday somebody holds you for 20 minutes straight.
And that's all they do.
They don't pull away.
They don't look at you.
They don't try to kiss you.
All they do is wrap you up in their arms and hold you tight without an ounce of selfishness about it.

Waitress made it to the top of many film critics' "Best of 2007" lists and I really have to agree. It's a sweet story of strength and making decisions and living life the right way.

This film debutted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 shortly after the murder of writer/director Adrienne Shelly who also played Dawn.

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and thematic elements.