MovieChat Forums > Waitress (2007) Discussion > 'Waitress': What Do Male Viewers Think...

'Waitress': What Do Male Viewers Think?

posted 15 years ago by owenrcarpenter
35 replies | jump to latest

First I have to put my cards on the table and admit that I loved 'Waitress'. I was a huge fan of Adrienne Shelly for many years and I was devestated at the news of her brutal murder in the fall of '06. I thought that her final film was a fitting epitath for an extremely talented actress and film-maker who - had she lived - would have gone on to make Oscar-winners within a few years. 'Waitress' could be written off as a simple 'chick-flick' were it not for Shelly's witty script and subtle direction. This was a film which portrayed all the characters, not just the female ones, as fully rounded individuals with all the according strengths and weaknesses. This movie contained many archetypical characters, but I didn't see one stereotypical one. It was moving, compassionate and wise.

I would be interested in what other male viewers think. Did they get dragged to the movie by a girlfrield and leave pleasantly surprised? Were they bored and/or disapointed by the film? Or is their experience somewhere in between? I would be very interested to hear their reasoning whatever position they subscribe to.

[–] ChickFlicksandBeer 13 years ago

I wrote a review on waitress on my site www.chickflicksandbeer.com. I also did a piece on Andy in Waitress recently at http://chickflicksandbeer.blogspot.com/2012/07/andy-griffith-you-will- be-missed.html Check it out!

[–] operaghost78 13 years ago

love this film!

i aim to misbehave

captain malcolm reynolds
serenity

[–] Mookie_2 12 years ago

Yes, pretty much what you described. Got "suckered" into watching it on DVD and finding myself surprised at how much I enjoyed the characters and the acting.

[–] jlenting 12 years ago

<spoiler alert>

------------------------

I only watched this since my wife was watching it on TV one evening and I decided to watch it with her.

I don't think i would've watched it if she wasn't watching it.

I was also pleasantly surprised.
I was expecting a typical (chick flick)romantic comedy.
But instead it had real depth and likeable (if flawed) characters.

The characters behaved (relatively) realistically.

The acting all round was quite good.

I also really like the ending.
Wherein the child ends up being the one true thing that sets the main character at ease, giving her courage enough to part from the 2 men in her lives.

Also, the actress playing the daughter at the end is so unbelievably cute.
Loved how they walked into the sunset with their brightly coloured clothes.

[–] owenrcarpenter 12 years ago

The little girl you mention is Sophie Ostroy, the real-life daughter of the writer/director of 'Waitress' Adrienne Shelly. Her father - Adrienne's husband Andy Ostroy - also has a brief appearance in the movie as the 'cake-man' making deliveries to the diner. Adrienne wrote the film with in intention of playing the lead role of Jenna herself, but in the end the actress Keri Russell took the lead.

Adrienne played Jenna's shy and unhappy friend Dawn, who eventually found love with the 'creepy' Ogie once she realised that he was actually a decent fellow underneath his nerdy exterior. In the final scene, when Dawn waves goodbye to Jenna and Lulu before they walk into the sunset, Adrienne is actually waving farewell to her own daughter. The song 'Baby Don't You Cry' which plays over the closing credits is the lullabye that Adrienne wrote and sang to the daughter to get her to sleep at night.

Jesus, it's so sad. Just THINKING about it brings the tears to my eyes...

[–] oliverneale 11 years ago

Oh man, that's just so sad.

[–] AllieMDA 9 years ago

Thanks for prefacing your opinion of the movie by letting us all know you basically watched this against your will.
It made you sound so much more manly when it turned out you liked it after all.

[–] Wuchakk 12 years ago

My conclusion after watching: This is a 100% dyed-in-the-wool chick flick.

As the story progressed I couldn't stand watching the scenes with Jenna and the Doctor, since they were both being unfaithful to their spouses. Jenna was partially forgivable since she was plotting to leave her abusive husband anyway, but the doctor had no such excuse. His wife is later portrayed as a fine woman, which makes the doctor out to be a lying, cheating piece of sheet.

But I liked the fact that Jenna came to her senses and rejected both of these men, telling the doctor that they needed to end it while there's no high body count, so to speak.

[–] alwayshungryy 11 years ago

I loved it, everything from the script to the performances, I personally don't ever say a film doesn't appeal to me because it was "made for a certain group of audience" although I can see where people are coming from when they say that, but a good film is a good film!

[–] svenrufus 10 years ago

I don't really buy the chick-flick/films for the boys schism. For me there are good films or bad films, and subject matter or gender of lead characters is pretty immaterial to that determination. Quality of story telling, character development, direction, cinematography etc are all that really count. It was actually me that chose this, on the TV, last night, so I was by no means made to watch it.

Both me and my girlfriend thought the same at the end. Completely untaxing, pretty formulaic and predictable, inoffensive and bland, but moderately enjoyable nonetheless. It didn't really get any emotional reaction from me, and although I kind of cared for a number of the lead actors, it didn't move me much - it was more a case of waiting for the way inevitable story ark to play itself out. Decent, minimum standards of professionalism needed in terms of acting and film production, but ultimately pretty forgettable.

[–] barry70 10 years ago

It was an OK film. Jenna singing the song with the line "gonna bake a pie with a heart in the middle" was the highlight. A very sweet moment.

I really disliked the blonde waitress. She used her husband's disability as a free pass to cheat on him. Like any relationship between two able-bodied people, if you aren't happy, you should leave. Your partner being more reliant on you than the average partner shouldn't come before your happiness, yet being unhappy isn't an excuse to go behind his/her's back.

I don't approve of Jenna's affair either but I had more sympathy for her situation.

[–] owenrcarpenter 10 years ago

I quite agree.

There are people on this board who have slammed Adrienne's film as an exercise in 'male-bashing' in which all the men are portrayed as turds and all the women are held up as plaster-saints. I am at a loss to explain their reasoning. The women in this movie behave just as badly as many of the men. Becky, the character played by Cheryl Hines, has nothing but contempt for her disabled husband. I believe that she openly referred to him as 'sitting in a chair and drooling' at one point. The shy waitress Dawn (played by Adrienne herself) whines that she can't find a man, but when she finally meets one who is smitten with her, she is so cruel to him that he is reduced to tears. Even Jenna thinks nothing of putting her merry shag-fest with the handsome Doctor above any feeling of sympathy for his betrayed wife. It took a man - Joe - to make her aware of the error of her ways.

How is all this simple 'male-bashing'?

That said, Earl was UNQUESTIONABLY the a-hole of a-holes!

[–] schmadie 9 years ago

(This is a boy's take.)

It's a strange little film.

I re-watched it recently simply because of Sara Bareilles having written the music and lyrics for the theatrical production.

Ironically, in many ways, the film is more a stage presentation, especially in the framing of scenes. Never mind the content, the dialogue, the way the plot unfolds. When you have a good look at Sara's songs, it's easy to see where they'd fit, and I can't help wondering if Ms Shelly had a theatrical production in mind when she wrote and shot it.

I can't say that I connected with the characters. This was probably due to them not being drawn particularly well, as well as the words that came out of their mouths.

I found the crux of the story...the affair between Jenna and the doctor...to be a stretch, and therefore, because the characters weren't developed very well, it was unbelievable. Actually, it made me cringe.

I felt really uncomfortable with the whole thing between Ogie and Dawn, and this is perhaps an example of when what was on-screen might work better on-stage. Ogie's behaviour was creepy. Period. No matter how gentle he was, or how pure his heart was. But because of the tone of the film, his behaviour was accepted; this is the way theatrical musicals work. It reminds me of pantos in Great Britain; over-the-top stuff but accepted by the audience in the spirit of the piece. (I have to add the maxim 'The difference between stalking and romancing is the object of desire's interest.') Take a listen to the Bareilles song 'Never Ever Getting Rid of Me'. (The entire album is available to listen to on YouTube.) In it, Ogie sounds adorable. But he's still a stalker. In fact, he's really just the other side of the coin that is Earl: a control freak. He gets away with things because he's like a puppy.

Oh, and I hated Earl. Potentially a fascinating character, but because of the playful-theatrical-hamfisted approach to the whole story, his complexities were never really examined, therefore he was not authentic.

Finally, for those people who don't believe there's such a thing as a 'chick-flick': It's a genre. Just as 'thriller' or 'horror' or 'slasher' or 'black-comedy' or 'superhero' or 'western' or 'sci-fi' are genres. 'Waitress' is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a chick-flick. It appeals to a particular audience. This audience forgives a lot. (Even though they can be harsh in their reviews of the film.) To wit: someone who's not a horror fan will not be bringing a positive bias into the cinema, so it's got to be really, really good for them to give it a thumb's up. Whereas the devotee of the genre will carry in a bias that forgives a lot. That overlooks some basics because they get what they came for in other regards. 'Waitress' ticks all the 'chick-flick' boxes. (As a final point, 'chick-lit' is an identifiable -and huge- genre within the publishing industry. Were you to compare a dozen books from this category with a dozen mainstream novels, the differences would be inarguably clear. And I say this as a writer as well as a reader.)

P.S. If you want to watch another film that's really a play in disguise, try 'Scorchers'. (If you can find it.) It's one of my favourites of all time, but most people don't like it. Simply because it asks a ton of suspension-of-disbelief from the viewer.

[–] nutsberryfarm 9 years ago

old joe needs to be deported. what an annoying grump.

🎍Season's greetings!🎅🌲

[–] mark-2869 9 years ago

Loved it too, and I saw it because it is an Adrienne Shelley film.

I came away thinking her film making and storytelling was much influenced by her work with Hal Hartley.

[–] [email protected] (690) 8 years ago

I'm a guy and I really like this movie. When it was new, it likely got a good write-up for the local art house and I went alone, as I recall.
There are a lot of problems with this film if I took it seriously, but because it is directed and filmed with such breezy pace and brightness, I find it very watchable. Hard not to fall in love with Keri Russell.
A lot of the elements - Sisto's gum-chomping macho dude, the sudden hot smooching of Jenna and the doc, the sassy semi-attractive waitress - really were beyond credibility for a serious effort, but like another poster said elsewhere, it's a fairy-tale and I find it a very pleasant movie to just enjoy the easy flow of. Mostly there is an undercurrent of subtle humor that keeps this movie from going under. I don't like that the doctor's personal office is a paper-work strewn disaster, that really undermines his credibility as a physician (to me, anyway) but that's not the point of the film. And especially when he seems to not even hesitate jumping on his pregnant patient while being a trusted and likable figure for the viewer, and married on top of it, it rings all the wrong bells. But the movie perkily moves right on so it doesn't ruin it for me.
And the characters are just close enough to being comic exaggerations, so the movie seems more a charming, sentimental lark than something to be dissected for it's flaws.
Another fun film not to be taken seriously is Baghdad Cafe, in case anyone reading this is not familiar.