Waitress” A delectable DVD to rent on a cold night

Second Place

Review

Division 1

Waitress” A delectable DVD to rent on a cold night

Amanda Kennedy

Grade 11

Intelligencer Journal-Freestyle

Adviser: Claudia Esbenshade

If the movie “Waitress” were a pie, it would be called “Give Me Independence Pie” or, perhaps, “I Do Not Need a Man in My Life to be Strong Pie.” Its ingredients would be sorrow, sass and a warm, flakey crust to engulf it all.

To put it simply, “Waitress” is a movie about pie. This flakey dessert acts as a unifying theme throughout the film. It is used to lure love, bring people together and carry others into a different world.

The hub of all pastry is at Old Joe’s Pie Diner, where Jenna is a pie connoisseur and waitress. She waits tables with her best friends, Becky and Dawn, and creates pies for the daily special. Played by Keri Russell of “Felicity” fame, Jenna aspires to ultimately enter a dessert into a pie contest, win the $25,000 grand prize and open the doors of a pie shop of her own.

The aprons of these women waitresses are not starchy and spotless but instead wrinkled with impurities that are rubbed in by others. These women are tired; they are exhausted by the men in their lives who cause them difficulty. Cheryl Hines plays Becky, who must care for her ailing husband and look elsewhere for love. Dawn is pursued doggedly by Ogie, and awkward fellow in gawky glasses who clings to the waitress with marriage proclamations after a blind date. (tragedy struck the tremendously gifted Adrienne Schelly, who acted as Dawn, as well as wrote and directed the film, when she was murdered in November 2006.)

Then, there is Jenna. Her husband Earl has her ensnared in his clenched grip, a domineering and demanding man played by Jeremy Sisto. The meager waitress salary ant tips she earns must be handed over to Earl, and he provides her with no feelings of comfort. In Earl’s sexist eyes, a woman exists only to romantically please and feed a man. Thus, when Jenna becomes pregnant with Earl’s baby after a night of drunken stupor, she is forced to consider all aspects of her life.

A standout character in “Waitress” is diner owner Old Joe. Played by Andy Griffith, he is cranky yet caring, frank yet heartfelt. Each day Jenna serves him a meal, and he reads her their horoscopes with rapt interest. Behind his complaints of incorrect (and heavily involved) orders on Jenna’s part, viewers catch a soft spot on his demeanor. Griffith plays the part extremely well. In the end, Old Joe’s hidden compassion feeds Jenna’s dreams with lasting effect, a deed worth smiling over.

During her first routine pregnancy evaluation, Jenna meets handsome Dr. Pomatter; the new gynecologists in town, played by Nathan Fillion. He is married, but Jenna finds in him the tenderness that is lacking from her husband, and they initiate an intimate affair. Jenna’s Marshmallow Mermaid Pie is the spark of their relationship.

Whenever Jenna is distressed, she closes her eyes and envisions a new pie concoction. It is assembled in her mind, beginning with the crust; viewers can hear the emotion in her voice when she visually builds the recipe. It is a therapy of sorts for the waitress. The names of her innovative pies are even more brilliant. Titles such as “Falling in Love Pie,” and “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie,” and even “Naughty Pumpkin Pie,” bring with them tart humor while inflicting a sense of rawness even before tasting the desserts.

This film is quirky and different, but the moral is resolute. The women of “Waitress” carry with them the radiant conviction of female empowerment. They realize that they do not need men by their side in order to be successful. As Jenna’s pregnant belly grows larger throughout the film and she learns to love the child growing inside of her regardless of paternal ties, she becomes increasingly defiant and independent.

The late “Waitress” director would be proud of her accomplished film that sheds light upon the strength of women.