'Waitress': A Touching Coda

This afternoon I caught a public screening of 'Waitress,' which arrives at the festival on the heels of tragedy: Its director, writer and co-star, Adrienne Shelly, was murdered in her New York City apartment last November by a construction worker who got angry when she complained he was making too much noise.

It's bittersweet for the cast and crew of 'Waitress' even to be here, and that makes for a heartwarming story even if that's the only thing the film has going for it. But to add the whipped cream on top of the cherry pie, the movie's good. I mean really good. Keri Russell plays Jenna, a waitress with a gift for making heavenly pies. (She works at Joe's Pie Diner. Of course.) Jenna's married to Earl (Jeremy Sisto), who's controlling and given to jealous rages; desperately unhappy, she's finally begun plotting her escape. But then she discovers she's pregnant, and despite her indifference toward the baby, she starts going to see the handsome new doctor in town, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) -- and the sad, sad waitress and the sweet, neurotic doctor embark upon a halting affair.

Funny, tender, quirky and sad, this is a film blessed with a knockout cast that includes, in addition to Russell, Fillion and Sisto, Shelly herself and Cheryl Hines as Jenna's co-workers, plus the incomparable Andy Griffith as the eponymous Joe. 'Waitress,' with its homespun charms and Southern small-town setting, could have easily gotten overly cute and folksy, and at times it does start to veer in that direction; but Shelly knew the value of subtlety, and therefore the story never gets too corny, and the characters are always believable.

The members of the audience weren't the only ones who loved 'Waitress.' Early this morning, the distribution rights were purchased by Fox Searchlight for an estimated $4-5 million. After the credits rolled, the producer brought the actors (as well as Shelly's husband, Andrew Ostroy) up to the front of the theater to take questions, and they were all visibly moved at what they'd just seen and experienced. Most were crying. Each spoke with great fondness and admiration for Shelly, and with unabashed love for the film.

I, meanwhile, was starstruck because I was a mere 15 or so feet from Nathan Fillion, an actor upon whom I have a MASSIVE celebrity crush. When he looked at me -- and he totally did -- I felt like an 8th grader who's just been asked to dance by the most popular boy in school. I had absolutely no shame. I flat-out ogled. (Nathan, I was the one in the front row, wearing a purple shirt and staring at you like some creepy psycho stalker. Call me!)

Umm, I feel like I can't actually end the post like that. So let me just say that while I hadn't been familiar with Adrienne Shelly's work before this, I'm a big fan now. If there's a heaven, she's looking down and smiling. And eating pie.