2007 Waitress Part 1

2007 Waitress

"Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle.  Baby don't be blue, gonna make for you, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle.  Gonna make a pie from heaven above, gonna be filled with strawberry love.  Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, and hold you forever in the middle of my heart."

Waitress is another one of my favorite movies.  It is unique, quirky, poignant, winsome, hilarious, sad, and charming all at once.  It's an example, for me, of a flawlessly executed movie.  An original script, terrific acting -Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion were amazing.  Nathan Fillion is always loveable, and he is so funny in this, and Keri Russell captures the sorrow of her trapped, beleaguered character so well that it makes me want to cry at times, and cheer when that sorrow turns to joy.  The music is perfect, the filming techniques interesting.  The types of pies she invents are so creative, and it's fun to watch her bake.  I love practically everything about it.  Fair warning: I will be quoting A LOT of dialogue.

The movie begins with Jenna (Keri Russell) peacefully baking pies in the kitchen of a restaurant -everything is quiet, the music is soothing.  Then she is confronted by her two friends/co-workers, Dawn and Becky, which abruptly puts an end to the serene moment:

"You know what."

Becky: Hon, you've put it off long enough.
Jenna: What?
Becky & Dawn: You know what.

The next scene shows the three women in the restroom of the restaurant, waiting on the results of a pregnancy test Jenna has taken:

Becky: Negative.  Negative.  Come on, negative.  Come on!
Dawn: Dear Lord, please protect our Jenna from the hell of unwanted pregnancy.
Jenna: I don't need no baby.   I don't want no trouble.  I just want to make pies.  That's all I want to do, make pies.
Becky: I thought you weren't sleeping with your husband no more.
Dawn: He got her drunk one night.
Jenna: I should never drink.  I do stupid things when I drink, like sleep with my husband.  Oh, no!   Looks like a pink line is forming.  Shit.
Becky: One line or two lines?   One line or two lines?
Jenna: Two lines!  The control line and the other line, the bad line, the "yes" line.
Becky: Let me see that now.  Two lines, two definite lines.  There's no mistaking them.

It quickly becomes obvious why Jenna would not want to have a baby with her husband.  Earl is the biggest jackass of a husband imaginable.  Not only is he controlling and abusive, he actually seems to be pretty unhinged.  What else can possibly explain his terrifyingly intimidating attitude towards Jenna while he professes to love her?  Not to mention his rude repeated honking of his car horn when he picks her up from work?  We are first introduced to Earl when he picks Jenna up in this manner, with the maddening repetitious horn honking, which continues until Jenna gets in the car:

Earl: You don't look happy to see me.  Are you happy to see me?
Jenna: Yeah, I'm happy to see you.  Even brought you a piece of today's special, "Kick In The Pants Pie."  Cinnamon spice custard.
Earl: You don't give me a kiss.  Well, give me one.  There.  That's more like it.  Where's that money you made today?
Jenna: Right here in my pocket.
Earl: Well, now, hand it over.   Not much here, is there?
Jenna: Slow day, you know.
Earl: Yeah, you been having more and more of those.   I'm really not sure it's worth you working there anymore.  I think I might rather have you be at home making me pies all day long.  You didn't ask me how my day was.
Jenna: How was your day?
Earl: Ask me like you care about it.
Jenna: How was your day, Earl?
Earl: Well, you know, Johnson's on my case again, about the mortgages and everything.  But I don't make the bank policy, and I told him that, but he doesn't listen.
Jenna [Thinking]: "I Hate My Husband Pie."  You take bittersweet chocolate and don't sweeten it.   You make it into a pudding and drown it in caramel.
Earl: You're not listening to me.
Jenna: Yeah, I am.
Earl: What I say?
Jenna: You were bitching about Mr. Johnson.
Earl: What were the exact words I said?
Jenna: Well, I mean, I can't repeat them verbatim...
Earl: You don't listen to me!  Hurts my feelings.  Please just say you're sorry so I can let you out this car so you can make my dinner.
Jenna: I'm sorry, Earl, for not being able to repeat your words verbatim, something I should be able to do.
Earl: Whenever I need it.
Jenna: Whenever you need it.
Earl: All right, then.

Becky, Dawn and Jenna.

Jenna has a plan to escape from her marriage.  She has been hiding away some of her money in bits and pieces, storing it in odd places throughout her house, and she plans to enter a pie baking contest so that she can use the prize money to leave Earl:

Becky: Speaking of more meat, does Earl have any clue at all that you're pregnant?
Jenna: No, he don't notice, and I'm never going to tell him.  I'm just going to run away.
Dawn: Wow.  How much money you got saved?
Jenna: Not much, $1,200, and I can save another couple hundred before the Jonesville Bake-Off.
Dawn: How much is that prize money?
Jenna: $25,000, hon.

She is not pleased to be pregnant, as the baby is another hindrance to her escaping, as she can't afford to care for a baby without Earl's help:

Jenna: I was thinking.  Have you ever heard about those people who sell their babies for lots of money through, like, lawyers and stuff?
Dawn: Jenna, you can't sell your baby.  That's a horrible thought.
Jenna: I was just thinking, if I did, I might make enough money to finally get away from Earl.   I mean, at this point, the baby is the only real financial asset I have if I don't win that pie contest...Not everybody wants to be a mama, Dawn.  That don't make me a bad person...I respect this baby's right to thrive.  I do nothing harmful to it.   I don't drink, I watch my diet, but no.  I feel nothing like affection.  Maybe that man smothered all the affection out of me.  I don't know.

Earl catches Jenna trying to go the contest.

But Earl thwarts her plan to go to Jonesville, and forbids her from entering the contest, physically restraining her from attending, and becoming abusive.  Out of fear, she finally reveals her pregnancy to Earl.  Earl is not pleased at first: "Here's the thing, wife.  What if you decide to love the baby more than you love me? Women do it all the time. They have a baby and then it's to hell with the man...And I know how women get.  And I'm just not sure I want that happening.  I'd tell you to get rid of it, but I want you in the same place as me in the hereafter, if you know what I mean.  Maybe if you promise me that you wouldn't love the baby more than you love me.  You know?  That you'd make a real effort to love me more.  If I need something, you'd keep taking care of it.   You'd hold on to me more. I come first, not any baby. Well, can you make Early that promise?...Say "I promise I will not love the baby more than I love you, Early.""

Okay, so this review has been split into 4 parts, because blogspot will not publish it in one piece for some reason...