We got a bonus weekend of HBO last weekend, and I TiVoed Waitress. As I watched, I was really struck by the movie, finding it quite delightful. I wound up having to leave it with the last half hour left unwatched, and later that afternoon went out of my way to bribe my kids into watching TV in the next room so I could finish the movie. To my great disappointment, the movie went way downhill in that last half-hour, and really ruined the first hour and a half.
Thinking about it more, these are some of the things I noted:
Keri Russell's performance was excellent. She created a vivid, interesting human being whose reactions and decisions were absolutely consistent up to the end. (And I blame that on the writing rather than on her performance. She did as much as she could with what there was.)
Nathan Fillion was given very little to do. His character (along with Jeremy Sisto's) was very one-note, and neither of them was given an opportunity to wrap up their storyline in any real way, so they and the viewer were left hanging.
Overall, I found that was the problem. The end of the movie was entirely over-simplistic. Almost every interesting plotline was left unresolved. The rapid change in the character's demeanor was completely unbelievable. Yes, having a baby is life-changing, but it doesn't whitewash you. I thought the viewer was expected to believe that Keri Russell's character immediately became nothing but sunshine and light as soon as her daughter was born ... and I think in the end that was the biggest problem - the vivid character who had leapt so fully from the screen was completely lost, and while her life was happier I don't think she seemed anywhere near as interesting.
I'm left yearning for an ending that would have been more real and less fairy-tale, and really quite saddened by the promise of a really delightful movie that was so rudely whisked away. (And yes, I'm aware that the filmmaker was murdered, although I don't know the details. I feel guilty criticizing her movie, but the truth is she rushed and oversimplified the ending and it should have been much, much better.)
Thinking about it more, these are some of the things I noted:
Keri Russell's performance was excellent. She created a vivid, interesting human being whose reactions and decisions were absolutely consistent up to the end. (And I blame that on the writing rather than on her performance. She did as much as she could with what there was.)
Nathan Fillion was given very little to do. His character (along with Jeremy Sisto's) was very one-note, and neither of them was given an opportunity to wrap up their storyline in any real way, so they and the viewer were left hanging.
Overall, I found that was the problem. The end of the movie was entirely over-simplistic. Almost every interesting plotline was left unresolved. The rapid change in the character's demeanor was completely unbelievable. Yes, having a baby is life-changing, but it doesn't whitewash you. I thought the viewer was expected to believe that Keri Russell's character immediately became nothing but sunshine and light as soon as her daughter was born ... and I think in the end that was the biggest problem - the vivid character who had leapt so fully from the screen was completely lost, and while her life was happier I don't think she seemed anywhere near as interesting.
I'm left yearning for an ending that would have been more real and less fairy-tale, and really quite saddened by the promise of a really delightful movie that was so rudely whisked away. (And yes, I'm aware that the filmmaker was murdered, although I don't know the details. I feel guilty criticizing her movie, but the truth is she rushed and oversimplified the ending and it should have been much, much better.)
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