The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Waitress
Drama · Comedy · Romance · 2007
A small town waitress stuck in a lousy marriage finds love when an exciting out-of-towner enters her life.
Movie details
Waitress
“If only life were as easy as pie.”
2007 Drama · Comedy · Romance 1h 45m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
A small town waitress stuck in a lousy marriage finds love when an exciting out-of-towner enters her life.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Waitress?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Love in Taipei
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Fools Rush In
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The Yellow Handkerchief
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Not Easily Broken
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A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
I Met a Girl
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Father of the Bride
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A father comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
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Bridget Jones navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel. Back to work and on the apps, she's pursued by a younger man and maybe – just maybe – her son's science teacher.
Mystic Pizza
Romance · 1988
Three teenage girls come of age while working at a pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut.
Which Brings Me to You
Romance · 2023
Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Adrienne Shelly
Written by
Adrienne Shelly
Keri Russell
Jenna Hunterson
Nathan Fillion
Dr. Jim Pomatter
Andy Griffith
Old Joe
Cheryl Hines
Becky
Adrienne Shelly
Dawn Williams
Jeremy Sisto
Earl Hunterson
Eddie Jemison
Ogie Anhorn
Court is in session
Put Waitress on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.