Waitress - Available on DVD

Overall, “Waitress” is an enjoyable movie, mainly because its star, Keri Russell (“Felicity”), is so engaging that you like her in spite of the frustrating behavior of her character. Russell plays Jenna, a young woman who finds herself in an ugly marriage. Her only refuge from her abusive husband is when she is making pies for the diner where she works as a waitress. Jenna’s goal to save enough money to leave her husband is complicated when she discovers that she is pregnant. “Waitress,” written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, was written when Shelly was in the last months of her own pregnancy and reflects many of the uncertainties that new mothers experience. It is doubly bittersweet because Adrienne Shelly was murdered on November 1, 2006 before she was notified that her movie had been accepted at Sundance. (5/3/07)