Waitress

Day 43 + 44 - 2/12 + 2/13/09 Movie #42

BEFORE: I worked late on Thursday, so the inevitable happened - I fell asleep halfway through this movie, and I had to finish it on Friday, after dinner and the premiere of "Survivor". I guess it really didn't hold my attention...

THE PLOT: A pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep south meets a newcomer to her town and falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness.

AFTER: Well, that was pretty pointless. I can't really feel sympathy for a woman who's married to a controlling, abusing a-hole (Jeremy Sisto was horribly miscast, BTW) when she does NOTHING to stand up for herself or improve her situation. Self pity is very unattractive. And her solution is to start an affair with her married baby-doctor? How's THAT gonna fix anything?
Sure, we can discuss hot sex as a substitute for female empowerment, but it's a poor substitute for character growth, especially when the hormone-controlled people having the affair both admit it seems wrong - so why continue it?
What's the message here - cheating feels good? Sex and giving birth give you the confidence to dump your husband? Poor, poor metaphors. And maybe someday a dying rich guy will give you money, and solve everything! Um...hurray?

RATING: 2 out of 10 pies