Review: Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Reviews

Waitress

Serving happy endings

By BRETT MICHEL | May 9, 2007

3.0 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Waitress.

In this posthumous release from writer/director/actress Adrienne Shelly (who was murdered last November, apparently by an illegal immigrant), Andy Griffith is still presiding over small-town America, but it sure as hell isn’t Mayberry. His Old Joe’s got his paternal eyes on Jenna (Keri Russell), a waitress at his diner. She’s a petite, pretty charmer, but she can’t see it, perhaps because she’s used to hearing “You ain’t never been sexy!” screamed at her by Earl (Jeremy Sisto), her controlling ogre of a husband. No wonder she’s taken up a hobby: inventing “Biblically good” pie recipes, such as “I hate my husband pie” and “I don’t want Earl’s baby pie.” Yes, she’s pregnant. Soon she finds herself engaged in a passionate affair with the “weird” (“he’s from Connecticut”), handsome new obstetrician in town, who’d be perfect if he weren’t so married. As Jenna’s face takes on a permanently affixed smile, the film almost earns its happy ending, a fate that eluded the promising Shelly.

Related: Review: Play the Game, Splendor on the screen, Kurt speaks, More

Topics: Reviews , Keri Russell, Andy Griffith, WAITRESS

| More

See more deals

view all

[ 02/17 ] Festival Ballet Providence presents UP CLOSE ON HOPE @ Black Box Theater

[ 02/17 ] "Dana Levin: A Classical Realist In the 21st Century," an exhibit of paintings @ Bert Gallery

[ 02/17 ] Mary Poppins @ Providence Performing Arts Center

ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL

REVIEW: THIS MEANS WAR | February 16, 2012
What promises to be a modern Jules and Jim (until you realize it's directed by a 43-year-old who calls himself "McG") quickly devolves into Spy vs. Spy territory, only with incompetently staged and edited action and little of that ol' Mad magazine zing.

REVIEW: THE VIRAL FACTOR | January 17, 2012
Made for a modest budget of $17 million — and feeling like it (who needs convincing explosions in an action movie?), Dante Lam's latest still gets the job done from a run-and-gun standpoint.

REVIEW: EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE | January 17, 2012
Too soon? For Stephen Daldry's 9/11 drama, the right time is "never."

REVIEW: THE DIVIDE | January 10, 2012
Many a teleplay for The Twilight Zone threatened atomic Armageddon, and though Frontier(s) director Xavier Gens nukes New York in the opening shots of his latest thriller, he finds more inspiration in the horrors of human nature as seen in the old TV show's episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street."

REVIEW: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL | December 20, 2011
Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) returns to the screen in dramatic fashion as new teammate Jane (Paula Patton) and the returning Benji (Simon Pegg) break him out of a Russian prison.