Half feminist fable, half fairy tale, Waitress is 'œby turns tart and sweet, charming and tough,' said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. The story takes place in a small Southern diner, and 'œif you feel as if you've been there before,' it's probably because you're conjuring Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (and the subsequent sitcom Alice). Keri Russell displays a 'œdelightfully unexpected flair for the screwball' as Jenna, the waitress trapped in a marriage to a loathsome, controlling lout, said Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times. Despite Jenna's bleak predicament (she's also about to have the man's baby), Adrienne Shelly's script lays out how 'œan apparent dead end' can actually lead you to 'œthe expressway of your life.' The affecting film occasionally borders on Southern kitsch'”Andy Griffith, after all, plays the diner's owner. But Waitress never becomes saccharine, said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. Its 'œoff-kilter rhythms ultimately keep it from being too treacly.' A melancholy twist also is added by real-life tragedy: Shelly was murdered in New York last year, just before Waitress' debut at Sundance. Make that doubly tragic: Waitress would have been Shelly's 'œbreakthrough.'
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