comment #1

Zoidberg says ...

What I really liked about Waitress was Andy Griffith....
I thought he was charming.

And Adrienne Shelly, to me, will always be the girl from Hal Hartley's "Trust", one of my all-time favorite films. I've watched my old VHS copy of that movie at least 200 times, and why it hasn't been released on DVD is beyond me.

comment #2

malibugigolo says ...

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore really worked because it was filmed in Tucson..

No one wants to live in Tucson anymore, including Alice, or Lute, who has gone MIA....

comment #3

jeffmcm says ...

Jeff, I'd like to suggest that you put 'brute' on moratorium for a while. The way you use it has become such a pejorative as to make it meaningless.

comment #4

nemo says ...

"No one wants to live in Tucson anymore, ..."

I always remember Alice's line to her young son as they're driving out of Tucson: "Don't look back, or you'll turn into a pillar of shit."

But in real life, I've heard Tucson is a pretty good town.

Keri Russell may be 31, but I pictured her being about 25 in Waitress, having hooked up with her husband when she was 18 or so. People do a lot of awfully stupid things when they're 18 or 19 that they'd never do even a few years later. Like join the armed forces when George Bush is president.

comment #5

Movie fan09 says ...

you need to have some sort of web based talk show.

comment #6

Chicago48 says ...

I loved Waitress like you Jeff and I had the same problems with it. But otherwise, well directed, well written and well acted.

As for August Rush -- fuggedaboutit.

comment #7

Mike Schaefer says ...

In Across the Universe, Bono looked like he was playing Robin Williams. In August Rush Robin Williams looks like he's playing Bono. WTF?

But as far as Waitress is concerned, Fox should certainly be pushing Andy Griffith for Supporting -- could end up being the Battle of the Geezers between him and Holbrook.

comment #8

rocco says ...

Wells, I'm not sure if you don't see it or you choose to ignore it, but almost without fail whenever you post one of your snapshots the subject's eyes convey extreme discomfort or annoyance.

comment #9

PastePotPete says ...

In this case it seems to me more of a look of amused wariness.

Which is probably appropriate.

comment #10

OddDuck says ...

delbomber, I think you're full of shit and made up that comment solely for the snark value and to say something mean.

comment #11

Sax says ...

I haven't seen the movie, but I've seen a lot of couples and a lot of marriages and one of the enduring mysteries of human relations is the very phenomenon Jeff seems to find so implausible. Time after time, relationship after relationship, brilliant talented woman after brilliant talented woman, you see them hooking up with loathesome turds and troglodytes. The sensitve guys like Jeff just stand around wondering what the hell happened. Maybe the movie should have explored this state of affairs. Is it hormonal? Sometimes it's just money. Sometimes it's family crap -- they learn to be mistreated by their Dad, and get into the habit of trying to please some unappeasable tyrant.
I came back from a disappointing date years ago and told my roommate, "She thinks of me as her brother." He said: "Try being her father next time. It works wonders."

comment #12

thatmovieguy says ...

I knew a young woman in college who was a magnificent musician and had been winning awards ever since she was a child. She was also beautiful, charming and had a lovely personality. Everyone treated her like a goddess. So who was she dating? The married music director of her hometown church, who had kept her as his mistress since she was 17. He fed her all the standard lies ("I'll leave my wife when the baby starts kindergarten," "I'll leave her as soon as she goes back to work," etc.), regularly stood her up, sent her letters full of savage criticism and generally made her feel like an unpaid whore. Yet the relationship went on and on; the last time I saw her she was still with him and it had been five years at that point. She told me once that everyone around her had always given her praise and rewards and she never felt worthy of them. So she gravitated to the one guy who picked up on her insecurities and reinforced them, assuring her that she was just as weak and untalented and worthless as she feared. She may very well still be sitting in a motel room somewhere, waiting for his call and taking solace in the promise that he'll leave his wife "just as soon as the kid starts college."

comment #13

dawgzilla67 says ...

I love ya Jeff, but I've got to say if you've never in life been exposed to the strange phenomenon of women of otherwise fine character, looks and imagination hooking up with men who treat them with hostility and derision then you need to get out a little more.

I've had a number of lady friends over the years who are in the exact position that thatmovieguy described in his post. In some cases, the abuse went beyond the verbal/psychological and into the physical, and still these women (who included in their number an award-winning filmmaker, an oft-published writer, and the bass player in a working rock band, and a pair of actresses) defended their guys over and over again.

While I will cede the point that Waitress could have done a better job at showing why Keri Russell would have stuck with Jeremy Sisto, their relationship seemed all too familiar and believable to me.

comment #14

rocco says ...

Really OddDck? You think it's such a stretch that an actress, who is generally more hung up about appearances and control than your average woman, would have a problem with some old guy snapping an unexpected closeup as part of what was supposed to be an interview?? Hey, you may look at the Mona Lisa and see sadness, but I see a smile...here, I see a look that says "oh god, where is this picture going to end up?"

It's all in the eyes...cover the mouth and look at them...they're saying "thanks, asshole, I love granting interviews and having my photo snapped by amateurs with no fair warning"

Another one that stands out is a candid shot of Heather Graham Jeff took about a year ago...different circumstances (no interview I believe) but she looked particularly startled and I remember there being a woman in the background, presumably a friend of Graham's, with a clear look of disgust on her face.

comment #15

truefaith says ...

Jeff, you found those two things implausible in WAITRESS, yet you didn't find some guy who comes across a ton of drug money in the middle of nowhere in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN implausible? Get real.

comment #16

OddDuck says ...

delbomber, ok maybe you actually believe in your theory but I don't see it at all. You're reading into the photos that basically all these women think Wells is a creep ambushing them with his camera, no? I highly doubt this is the case, because that would mean the actresses' publicists/agents/whoever aren't doing their jobs. Second, even if a photo is impromptu, do you really think he literally whips out the camera and takes the picture without asking first? C'mon. Lastly, I'm lame and listen to a lot of them, and his interviews are usually pretty damn good, and I bet his subjects, to the extent that they could find any interview not a pain in the ass, appreciate an interviewer who can engage them a little more substantively on their craft.

But who knows, maybe you're completely right. No matter.

comment #17

rocco says ...

Wells is notorious for doing what he wants...you're right, this really is a matter of no consequence, but I imagine Jeff sitting down with Keri, beginning to chit-chat, then saying "oh, do you mind if I take a few snaps for my blog?"...caught off guard and willing to please--as most people are--they begrudginly oblige.

Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking, but perception is reality, and the eyes don't lie...how can you look at that photo and think Keri is happy to be in it?

comment #18

George Prager says ...

Wow, this thread is part therapy for nerdy guys who can't believe that pretty girls go out with jerks (maybe because they are jerks as well?) and part Emily Post on photo-taking for blog etiquette.