WAITRESS

Written by Anonimo

Waitress is a chick flick done well starring Keri Russell (best known for her former role in the TV series Felicity) as Jenna, a southern gal in a bad marriage with a knack for making out-of-this-world pies at a hole-in-the-wall pie shop. The movie stars off with Jenna finding out she’s pregnant by her controlling abusive husband, Earl, played by Jeremy Sisto. Jenna forces her best friends and co-workers Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Adrienne Shelly) to keep the pregnancy a secret due to the fact that she hates Earl, and she is only pregnant because he had his way with her on a drunken night. The pregnancy only complicates Jenna’s plan to participate in a pie contest in which the prize money is just enough for her to skip town and leave Earl for good.

Jenna is not at all excited about motherhood and much less the fact that she must see a doctor. She goes to see her long-time female OB/GYN only to find that Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) has taken over the practice. Although married, the doctor is immediately infatuated with Jenna and it isn’t long before sparks fly and they begin to have an affair.

The love affair continues as Jenna’s stomach grows, and Earl, stuck in his own little world remains clueless. Jenna knows she cannot continue the affair or remain with her husband. It is only with the advice of Joe (Andy Griffith), the elderly but quick-witted pie-shop owner that she manages to keep her head on straight.

We think Earl has discovered Jenna’s affair during a raging outburst at Dawn’s wedding reception, but he only found cash hidden around the house, the money Jenna would have used to ditch Earl, race to the pie contest, and hopefully win the grand prize.

Soon enough, Jenna is in the hospital room where she will give birth to a baby she stills doesn’t want. Joe suddenly comes in to say hello and drops of a card before going into surgery himself. Things couldn’t be more awkward for Jenna when she gave birth with the man she married and the man she is having an affair with both in the same room during the delivery of her baby.

Jenna has a girl whom she magically falls in love with at first sight. Earl is unhappy it’s not a boy and demands Jenna love him more. It is at this point where Jenna finds the courage to tell “Earlie” that she doesn’t love him anymore and wants him out of her life. Earl is pushed out of the room by hospital staff and Jenna remains with her new bundle of joy.

On her way out of the hospital, Jenna breaks off her affair with the doc, reminding him that he is after all married. Not before leaving the hospital does Jenna open her card from Joe to discover a check for two-hundred seventy odd some-dollars. She uses this money to fix up the pie shop, renames it Lulu’s after her daughter and lives happily ever.

I took on this movie reluctantly and ended up liking it in the end. It is funny at times, but takes on a more serious tone. It’s good, definitely a great rental to watch with the significant other on Friday night.

Extras include audio commentaries by Russell and producer Michael Roiff and features about the actors that aired on Fox Movie Channel, the making of the movie, and a memorial to writer/director Shelly.

AUGUST RUSH

Written by Hombre Divertido

Rarely has so much potential been squandered on poor writing and poor directing. The premise was solid, an excellent cast was assembled, and said cast gave good performances considering what they were given, yet this Oliver Twist meets Serendipity with a splash of Searching for Bobby Fisher thrown in results in 113 minutes of painful schlock.

Lyla (Keri Russell) who is an accomplished cellist meets Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) the up-and-coming rock star at a party. They have a one-night stand that results in her pregnancy. Unfortunately they are not able to meet up the next day and are incapable of finding each other again for more than eleven years. Don’t ask why. No brains involved in this production, and thus none allowed in the theatre.

Prior to the birth, Lyla gets in an accident and is told by her father (William Sadler) that she lost the baby. Actually the baby did survive, but Grandpa put the kid in an orphanage so as not to interfere with her daughter’s budding career.

So the child grows up in the orphanage, and Lyla and Louis both give up playing music due to the unhealed emotional wounds associated with the loss of their child and love respectively. Nope, no questions allowed here either.

We pick up our story meeting Evan (Freddie Highmore) who is eleven and has grown up in an orphanage. He is not only the odd kid amongst his peers, but believes his parents are alive. He eventually runs away to the big city where he is taken in by the Wizard (Robin Williams), who has the Fagin role in managing a group of parentless street performers. Evan’s musical gifts are discovered, developed, and eventually exploited, by the Wizard who renames Evan “August Rush” for marketing purposes. Luckily Evan/August manages to break free and ends up at Julliard. Yes, Julliard, where he magically becomes enrolled. Try to let it go.

On his deathbed, Lyla’s father confesses, and she sets out to find her son. Not a bad premise so far.

Also in the cast is Terrance Howard, as a social worker, and his performance is fine, as is the rest of the cast. The problems here are writing and directing. The script contains no turns that you won’t see coming, and a ton of turns that should have been taken that remain unexplored. The dialog is one–dimensional and you can see the actors straining to get out of the ties that bind them. The directing also contains too many bad choices. From scene construction, to camera angles, to editing, this film is just one frustration after another.

The music is good, and the film is attractive to look at. That’s pretty much it.

Recommendation: Don’t rush in August or any other month to see this sappy predictable piece of film on DVD or television. Let us hope that the American public has not set its bar so low that it will dive into and embrace this which has no depth.