Waitress – Saturday At The Movies

Stef is away today, celebrating the graduation of one of her sorority sisters. Helaine and I decided to go to the movies tonight.

We headed to the Criterion in New Haven for Waitress, starring Keri Russell.

The movie is the story of a waitress, in a loveless marriage, who finds herself both unwontedly pregnant and in love with her married gynecologist.

I suppose this is what’s called a small movie. It is heavily dependent on its very stylized look and really sharp cast. The story is simple and sweet

The movie itself is set in a small, seemingly downscale southern town. Much of the action takes place at a diner which specializes in pies – many expertly baked by Jenna (Keri Russell).

Andy Griffith (around my dad’s age, but looking much older) is excellent as Old Joe, the owner of the diner. More importantly, he is the uninvited elder philosopher in Jenna’s life. He will receive an Oscar nomination for this role.

I’m not sure how to explain this, but Earl (Jeremy Sisto), Jenna’s husband, is the least appealing (most repulsive) character I’ve ever seen in a film, without resorting to over-the-top characterization. He was just realistically creepy – not an easy task.

Helaine noticed Jenna’s love interest, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) looked like a young Mike Sechrist. Mike’s a friend of mine.

I enjoyed this movie. Helaine enjoyed it even more. That’s probably going to be typical of many couples. It was a great Saturday afternoon date with my wife and a borderline chick flick.

Footnote:We like going to the movies, and this theater is nice and new. However, the print we saw was terrible. Here is the note I sent to the company that owns the theater.

My wife and I saw the 4:00 PM Saturday showing of Waitress at your New Haven theater. We like going to the movies and we’re glad you’re in New Haven. We’re glad the city is coming back and drove past another theater to get to you.

Unfortunately, the print for Waitress was horrendous. There were horizontal scratches visible for the entire show.

When I told a friend, he described the exact same scratches when he had seen Dreamgirls. Is there some sort of equipment problem in your theater that’s killing the prints?

I’m not asking for a refund. All I want to know is, you’ve gotten my message and you’ll fix the problem.

All the best,

Geoff Fox

Here’s their response:

Greetings!

We are unaware of any print problems in New Haven, and will address the situation immediately. I can assure you though, there is no recurring problem at that theater.

Thanks!

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