"Waitress"

Jenna's married to Earl, her once-upon-a-time sweetheart who's turned mean and surly. Earl treats Jenna like a cheap lawn chair and expects her unwavering adoration in return. Jenna (Keri Russell) and Earl (Jeremy Sisto) live in the rural South, barely scraping by.

Jenna works down the road, a waitress at the nearby diner. Her only passion is concocting a variety of pies that she names to suit her moods, such as the "I Don't Want Earl's Baby Pie" (egg and brie quiche with a smoked ham center) or "Pregnant Miserable Self-Pitying Loser Pie" (lumpy oatmeal with mashed-in fruitcake, flambéed). Funny thing is, Jenna's pies are indescribably wonderful. But Earl won't let her enter an upcoming pie contest. Earl wants all of Jenna's attention on him.

Despite Earl's penchant for snatching Jenna's paycheck, she's managed to stash some money away- enough, she hopes, to leave her husband as soon as possible. But then the unthinkable happens: Earl gets Jenna drunk one night and she wakes up pregnant. All her hopes of a quick getaway dissolve like mist in the morning sunlight.

Directed by: Adrienne Shelly Starring: Keri Russell, Cheryl Hines, Nathan Fillion, Jeremy Sisto, Adrienne Shelly MPAA rating: PG-13 (for mild adult language, situations) Running time: 107 minutes Best suited for: women of independent spirit (and those guys unafraid of them) Least suited for: macho, macho men Acorn Rating:

Jenna shares her unhappiness with her friends, co-waitresses Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (writer/director Adrienne Shelly). Becky and Dawn have similarly desperate lives, and the three seem to take comfort in sharing one another's misery. Happiness seems as elusive to these three as the aroma from one of Jenna's fresh-baked pies, wafting away in the breeze.

Already six weeks along, Jenna drops by to visit her OB/GYN- and discovers the town's young new doctor (Nathan Fillion). The two are immediately smitten, despite the fact that Dr. Pomatter is also married. Without forethought or apparent comprehension, she flings herself into his arms.

The setup is strictly Hollywood, but little else of the slyly engrossing "Waitress" feels even remotely coastal. This one's a warts-and-all tale of a brash, dead-end-headed dreamer who bobs and flails for each remaining breath before drowning in the circumstance of her existence.

Yes, it's a comedy, but a daunting one. And, unlike its recent, less-effective predecessors "Year of the Dog" and "Because I Said So," "Waitress" manages to ground itself firmly enough in the humor of the moment before winding its way, quite knowledgeably, through our souls. The film's comedic overtones are smart and effective, the hightensioned drama elusive enough not to bog down in a morass of self-pity.

Thus director Shelly weaves a heartfelt tale. Unlike so many typical Hollywood renditions, Dr. Pomatter isn't necessarily Jenna's salvation, but rather another speed bump she must learn to navigate. And when their first encounter leads to another, Jenna makes choices that many of us won't anticipate, nor necessarily appreciate. Hollywood usually finds easier routes.

Seems to me, we feel every bump on Jenna's road to selfdiscovery.

And then there are Jenna's pies. While not exactly the epicurean equivalent of, say, "Tortilla Soup" or "Chocolat," one can't help but begin to taste the film's ambiance. Jenna's pies are windows to her soul, and her soul bubbles frequently with hope and despair. For instance, Jenna makes an "I Can't Have No Affair Because It's Wrong and I Don't Want Earl to Kill Me Pie"- vanilla custard with a whole banana, at the last moment Jenna plucking out the banana.

The honeymoon is definitely over.

Jeremy Sisto wonderfully plays the self-absorbed, barely thissideof tolerable Earl. Looking for any sign of redemptive qualities in Jenna's husband, Dawn and Becky can only agree on one: nice hair.

Male characters don't fare very well in "Waitress," although, like the smitten Dr. Pomatter and cranky Old Joe, there's a hopeful empathy playing around their edges. An elderly Andy Griffith plays Old Joe, by the way, who drops around the diner to gripe and read Jenna's horoscope and also to taste her newest creations.

In one scene, Old Joe confesses to Jenna that she's his only friend. Jenna is apparently everyone's only friend in town, a heavy cross to bear when you're not sure you even like yourself.

In her unborn baby's diary, Jenna fears herself to be the "antimother." She clearly does not want the child and wants the kid to know that in advance. As her pregnancy progresses, so does her bitterness.

The reward here is not only watching Jenna cope, but also watching her attempt to excel, to become her own best friend, perhaps knowing down deep it's the best friend of all.

A last, uncomfortable note: "Waitress" is writer/director Adrienne Shelly's breakout film, a marvelous effort that Shelly did not live to see. She was murdered in her New York apartment in October 2006.