Am I the only indie film lover who DIDN'T like "Waitress"? **SPOILERS**

[grace0418]

I finally got around to seeing it over the weekend. I was excited and really thought I would love it. Lots of folks who normally share my taste in movies told me how much they loved it, told me how it was so empowering for women, and how wonderful the story was...

I just didn't see any of that.

I thought it seemed like a movie about southern folks written by a northerner, and it wasn't a flattering portrayal. I don't know if Adrienne Shelly (RIP) ever lived in the south, and I certainly am a born and bred northerner myself, but I found it awash in many cultural and sexist stereotypes. The men are seriously flawed at best or complete assholes at worst. And naturally, the "nice" doctor is from the north while the asshole husband is a redneck. The women are helpless and talk about nothing besides men, looking good for men, having crummy men in their lives, etc.

Am I supposed to be happy that Dawn settled for a creepy stalker guy who wouldn't leave her alone until she gave in to his demands of love, just because "no one else wanted her"? I know that happens in real life sometimes, but how is that empowering to women?

Am I supposed to think Jenna's doctor *isn't* a creep because he's nicer to her than her asshole husband? Even though he's cheating on his perfectly nice, intelligent and lovely wife with a miserable, married pregant woman (his PATIENT, no less)? Why did we never see any angst about this on his part?

And if Earl is such a controlling, abusive asshole, how am I supposed to believe that he'd put up with her only having sex with him every few months? And how am I supposed to believe he wouldn't cause *ANY* trouble for her after she finally kicks him to the curb? Suuuuure, a guy like that is really going to go away and never bother her (or his daughter) again, especially when Jenna sets up shop in the same damn town. I don't buy it.

To me it would've been far more empowering to women if the doctor were single, willing to wait until she got out of her marriage, and yet she *STILL* breaks up with him in the end to figure stuff out on her own. To see her succeed without the help of any man (including Old Joe and his money) would've been much more satisfying and empowering.

I thought the dialogue was spotty, the music choices were bizzare, and I was constantly aware of situations where the director/writer seemed to say "Oh, I know, I'll make the person say or do THIS now because that will be delightfully quirky!"

Overall, I thought it was a trainwreck. And I was so ready to love it.

[amitten]

1. I thought it was a very mediocre film...more like a made-for-TV

movie. Very Lifetime channel...in a bad way.

The characters were contrived. The Southernisms (accents included) were fake, forced, and wildly exaggerated. The "cutsie" factor was saccharine sweet and waaaay too much.

Also, how is it that this great doctor she meets, who clearly feels she is some kind of soulmate, ends up dumping her at the last minute with almost no apparent sadness...? It was very inconsistent with his character in the film.

It was just poorly done.

On edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention that I was dragged to the movie by a friend who loves sappy run-of-the-mill chick flicks. We walked out and she said, "That movie was REALLY stupid!" :rofl:
If it wasn't good enough for someone like that, I really don't get how the indie film snobs are into it!

[grace0418]

2. Considering how much the doctor was willing to risk

to be with her (bodily harm from her husband, his own marriage), you'd think he'd be a little more upset when she dumps him. My brother (a writer and actor) said to me last night "No man is going to be attracted to a woman pregnant with someone else's baby, especially when she's so miserable, unless he's got a serious kink. Since there was no examination of his kink, or any apparent angst over what he was doing to his own marriage, it rang completely false."

Contrived is an excellent description. The whole thing felt contrived.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Is that the one with the pies?

The one where, at least in the preview, there was no actual waitressing going on?

Didn't see the movie. I didn't know it was an indie. Looked like standard Hollywood fluss.

[grace0418]

4. It was a big favorite at Sundance before getting distributed.

But yes, it's the one with the pies.

[amitten]

8. Yeah, I think the Hollywood types saw it as "folksy" which it

wasn't, in reality.

The movie had no real soul or message, but because it involved small-town cliches and Southern accents, the Hollywood people thought it was somehow "down-to-earth" and "genuine" when really it was still just prefab Tinseltown crapola.

It was clearly written by someone unfamiliar with the subject matter.

[grace0418]

14. I'm the furthest thing from a folksy Southerner (I live smack dab in the middle

of Chicago and was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs), but I could see right through all that contrived bullshit. But you're probably right.

[amitten]

17. Yeah. But Hollywood is an alternate reality and they don't "get"

real people in real life. They deal with the surfaces of things. And to them, the surfaces in Waitress looked folksy and homespun and "real". If it's not a bullshit superficial cliche, in Hollywood it does not compute. And yes, Sundance is filled with superficial types who think they are able to recognize when something is deep.

The Sundance approval of Waitress proves that a lot of them are about as deep as the kitchen sink!

[grace0418]

20. Well, I did love "Little Miss Sunshine" so I agreed with them there. I'm going to

see "Juno" on Wednesday, but I'm lowering my expectations a bit because of "Waitress."

[amitten]

21. Juno will probably be a pregnant Waitress with cynicism.

Yeah...don't get your hopes up.

And yes, Little Miss Sunshine was brilliant. AND genuinely deep.

[grace0418]

23. LOL! Geez I hope not. I'll never convince my husband to see another indie film

again if Juno sucks as hard as Waitress.

[mitchum]

5. I thhink it became a "great film" much the same way that John and Yoko's...

"Double Fantasy" became a "great record"
Yes, that reason.

[grace0418]

6. I somewhat suspected that, and her murder is incredibly sad and outrageous,

but it's just not a good film.

[IronLionZion]

7. It made me want to find a nice southern woman

but then my girlfriend slapped me. She's from Minnesota. A southern woman probably wouldn't have slapped me for saying that. j/k :P

Yeah, I thought it didn't live up to the hype, but wasn't terrible. My gf hated it for the same reasons you mentioned. Watching it made me really want some pie though.

[grace0418]

12. I'll give you that, I *did* want pie after that movie.

The pie was the best part about the movie.

[LibDemAlways]

9. The doctor character was completely unbelievable. I

couldn't get beyond the ridiculous premise of that affair.

[amitten]

11. Yeah...that was the nail in the coffin. Real people don't behave

like that...

The whole thing didn't hang together.

[grace0418]

13. Even if you could believe the whole idea of "the heart wants what it wants" and go

along with the notion that sometimes people fall in love for no good reason, I just didn't believe their relationship. And I couldn't understand why it didn't seem to cause him any grief or guilt or angst. It made him look like an asshole. Even if his wife just wasn't right for him and Jenna was his true soulmate, a decent guy would at least feel a little tortured about the pain he was going to cause his wife by leaving her.

[amitten]

18. True dat. His reaction at the end pretty much ruined the movie.

It was a Jekyll and Hyde moment and toatlly inappropriate for his character. A typical Hollywood wrap-it-up ending.

[Pale Blue Dot]

10. I liked it.

:shrug:

By the way, see "Once". I think you'll like the music, at the very least.

Have you heard young Liam's CD yet?

[grace0418]

15. That's on my list. I don't get out to movies much anymore.

But I will rent it eventually.

I haven't downloaded Liam's cd, but I think I'm going to do so. He was pretty great on tour, although he got a bit gimmicky at times, and I like to support the Finn boys. :hi:

[Pale Blue Dot]

16. The CD is a mixed bag.

He's definitely more experimental than his father, and his voice isn't quite as good. This is a great song though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVpfGQ3TvPA

[grace0418]

19. His father's shoes are pretty big ones to fill, vocally speaking. Although I caught

the Austin City Limits show the other night and thought it was a shame they recorded it at the end of the Crowded House tour. He'd been struggling with a cold/losing his voice just before the Milwaukee and Chicago shows and never fully recovered from that, so it was pretty ragged by the time they got to Austin. It would've been great to have that taped when he was in full voice. But it was still fun to watch.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out when I get home (can't access youtube from work).

[bikebloke]

22. At least it was a Firefly fix

That's what I call Nathan Fillion (and any other Firefly/Serenity cast members) in other films. That way if they suck, I can fool myself into thinking it didn't suck that bad (unsuccessfully at that). :shrug: