Most romantic comedies are simply about uniting the heroine with a dashing male lead; Waitress, however, has a slightly more feminist bent. This warm and engaging film also deals with issues of motherhood, abusive relationships and female empowerment - adding some sly and welcome twists along the way. Small-town diner waitress Jenna (Keri Russell) is distressed to find herself pregnant. Married to a violent lout, she bakes her famed pies (such as the "I Hate My Husband" pie) for comfort and dreams of escaping her stifling marriage. During a routine trip to the medical centre, Jenna meets new locum Dr Pomatter (Serenity's Nathan Fillion) and they begin a torrid, if not entirely ethical, affair. Fillion makes a credible and likeable romantic interest, and the camera clearly loves the quiet, commanding Russell, but ultimately Waitress is a testament to the promise of its late writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelly. Her spot-on script and deft comic timing demonstrate the talents that were reaching full bloom when she was murdered by a construction worker in November 2006, just weeks after the film was finished.

A small town waitress stuck in a lousy marriage finds love when an exciting out-of-towner enters her life.