Waitress

Ahh, I’ve gotten ahead of myself. I saw this before Johnny Guitar, but wonderful as this was, JG distracted me from it and then some. But Waitress, Waitress… let me try to recall how I loved it.

This is the sort of film that enraptures the willing viewer in its unique spirit. It’s only afterward that one realizes hey, the narrative was pretty straightforward and at times trite — and for that matter, some of the characters were easy stereotypes. Somehow this doesn’t really hurt the film, as the characters are fleshed out by wonderfully three-dimensional performances and fresh, offbeat dialogue. Shelly has a sense of humor unlike anyone’s — wicked, silly, but surprisingly subtle at times. In the end, Waitress feels completely fresh and is enormously successful in evoking both laughter and heartbreak. It’s a shame there’ll be no more like this, following Shelly’s death… I fully expect this to be on my top 10 at the end of the year.