"I don't need no baby. I don't want no trouble. I just want to make pies. That's all I wanna do. Make pies."
-- Jenna in WAITRESS
An audience hit at the Sundance Film Festival, WAITRESS serves up a sweet, sassy and delicious slice of life tale -- as it reveals the power of friendship, motherhood and the willingness to take a chance. It's the story of a small town woman who transforms her hopeless life into a hilarious and unexpected love story. This vibrantly different romantic comedy is the final film from writer/director Adrienne Shelly. Starring in the title role, Keri Russell (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3, THE UPSIDE OF ANGER, Felicity) leads a dynamic cast as a diner waitress stuck in a lousy marriage whose only solace is baking out-of-this-world pies. When the awkwardly charming new OB-GYN, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion, SERENITY), comes to town, she's inspired to mix-master her life into something far more satisfying. WAITRESS will surely do for pie making what SIDEWAYS did for Pinot Noir.
As a favorite waitress at Joe's Diner, Jenna (Russell) 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 (Jeremy Sisto, THIRTEEN, SIX FEET UNDER) is a jealous jerk who 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. WAITRESS also stars Emmy nominee Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," RV) and the late Adrienne Shelly (THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH, TRUST) as Jenna's quick-tongued fellow waitresses along with classic television star Andy Griffith ("The Andy Griffith Show," "Matlock") as the curmudgeonly Old Joe of Joe's Diner.
Adrienne Shelly's sunny final film is also her most artistically successful and intrinsically marketable directorial effort. An old-fashioned fairy tale that honors the transformative power of female friendship and motherhood, "Waitress" features a dynamic cast led by Keri Russell, whose character will surely do, in a Rachael Ray kind of way, for down home pie-making what the title character of "Babette's Feast" did for Cailles en Sarcophage.
When Russell's character Jenna, a waitress in a cheery southern diner, discovers that she's pregnant, she doesn't exactly jump for joy. Motherhood was never in her plans, and she's already saddled with her needy, jealous and infantile husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto).
At first, things seem hopeless and her dreams for a better life are in ruins, until a good-looking doctor (Nathan Fillion) arrives in town and mixes things up. With the support and love of her friends and co-workers (Adrienne Shelly and Cheryl Hines) at Joe's Pie Diner, Jenna exhibits her skills with crusts and fillings which are particularly appreciated by Joe himself (Andy Griffith). She then gains the courage to embrace independence and create the life of her dreams.
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