Waiting... (Unrated and Raw) (2005)

Few movies drive home a point as sharply as this one does. Yep, I will never, ever be mean or angry with a waiter or food preparer again.

"Waiting" is definitely one of those F*** Bomb a minute, gross out sexual humor sort of movies. But what makes it stand out from the majority of these usually brainless and nearly unwatchable movies is the sharply written script by first time writer/director Rob McKittrick. McKittrick knows his subject, as he was writing from personal experience. The characters are well fleshed out and recognizable, and the dialogue is quite funny and intelligent. The ensemble cast Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, and Justin Long among them do a great job.

As others have already mentioned, "Waiting" is like "Office Space", in that it is a movie focused on one peculiar micro-culture of our modern society. Instead of Cubical-ville, the characters live in the world of those familiar chain restaurants with the ersatz instant "history" and "character" stuck to the walls, where the waiters gather at your table to sing "Happy Birthday". Think T.G.I.F. or Bubba Gump, more upscale than Denny's or Carrow's, less upscale than Macaroni Grill (the local one here has someone, usually the head waiter or a cute girl, sing "Happy Birthday" in Italian, as an aria).

And, I now appreciate so much more the budget steakhouses like Ponderosa/Bonanza that show you the cooks grilling the steaks right in front of the customers. Great idea, all restaurants should do that...

Yes, this movie is what happens after the "coming of age" movie, when the kids leave the comforts of home to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives. Have you noticed how the people in these sorts of jobs are usually young, usually turn over constantly? It's a way station in life, the entry point into the cold, hard, realities of our fiercely competitive society.

Be kind to them all, while they figure it out...

About one day in the life of a family-style restaurant, it's employees, and the horrors that happen within the kitchen to those that may or may not deserve it, I found this movie entertaining and like how the filmmakers said in the documentary, alot like Clerks, yet not nearly as clever. Ryan Reynolds plays the exact same character he's played in Van Wilder (and others) here and he's got it down to a sarcastic science. Apple computer lackey Justin Long does surprisngly well here too as the "hero" of the story who realizes this day that his life is slowly wasted there. Alot of other familiar faces spring up here too, and for the gross-out scenes, yes they will teach you not to anger your waiter until AFTER you've eaten. Mildly amusing while not a total gut-buster, gets a whole point for the plentiful bonus features and very inventive menus.

(RedSabbath Rating:8.0/10)

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I love this movie. A better tale of the trials & tribulations of working in the mid-grade restaurant industry has never been made. It's sophomoric humor but it's hilarious! Don't waste your time on the sequel though, it is the Khan to the original's Kirk.

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I saw this movie on comedy central, but they censored so much out of it, i decided to just spend $7 and buy it. Well worth it, this movie is hilarious. Not a family movie, but for people who have worked in a restaurant, it makes you laugh so hard.

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I knew what I was getting into when I sat down to an evening with "Waiting." I knew it was from the school of moronic, gross out humor. But when a friend passed the DVD on to me, I respectfully emptied my head and put it on. I expected some sophomore pranks, some groaning one liners, and maybe a few chuckles--but I was completely blindsided by a mind-numbing boredom that set it from this film.

The setup was cute enough and the cast seemed appealing. Shenanigans is a great name for the establishment and there is certainly plenty of humorous material in the corporate world of restaurant flair (already impeccably handled in Office Space). But any hopes of a sly satire or a witty commentary on that world were soon abandoned. In fact, go watch Office Space again! The few brief moments in that film set in a similarly themed restaurant are funnier and have more to say than all 90 minutes of "Waiting."

So, as we are introduced to everyone through the eyes of a new employee played by a likable John Francis Daley I still had some hope. But then we are introduced to The Game, a sophomoric exercise where employees flash their privates. It was enough to make me smile, ONCE. But they beat this not-so-stellar joke to death almost immediately and proceeded to batter and kick and mutilate its unfunny carcass for the rest of the movie. I'm not kidding, eliminate this one clunker of an ongoing joke and "Waiting" probably would have been about 22 minutes! Now that would have been a real treat!

There is one scene near the end of the film when Daley blows up that I enjoyed. But one scene and a promising but unfufilled setup do not make up for the other 89 minutes I was waiting and waiting and waiting to laugh. Let me make this perfectly clear: In no way was I offended by the content of this film, I'm only bothered by its incapacity to engage me in any humorous way. KGHarris, 10/06.

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