Movie Info

Waiting... - "No one's gonna make it big here."

I am still not sure about Ryan Reynolds' brand of comedy. Sometimes I find it funny and sometimes I find it bland. I've seen him since his days in "Two guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place". He was Berg, the ever obnoxious guy. I found him very funny in Van Wilder and his role in Blade: Trinity was pretty good too. Over the last few years, Reynolds has been busy and releasing a ton of movies. He seems to like working with Anna Faris as this is the second movie they're in together in 2005. Anyways, on to the movie.

Waiting is about a day in the life of the staff of a family restaurant, much like Kelsey's, Montana's, East Side Mario's and countless other family/theme restaurants we all know and love (or hate) to eat at. Of course this being a comedy, the staff hates their jobs and does all those terrible things you think they do in the kitchen. Food is dropped on the floor, a bizarre and scary "game" is played, and the manager is the hard-ass, power hungry asshole you know and love.

I've never worked in a restaurant before, but I've worked in the service industry and I must say, some of the scenes in the movie are great and very accurate. There's a scene in the movie that's in all the trailers; where the woman complaining gets this nasty steak covered with tons of....things. Monty says it best when he says "She broke the cardinal rule: you don't fuck with the people who handle your food." This is so true. Do you ever wonder why that waiter/waitress is having a bad day? All it takes is one crassy, annoying patron to ruin your day. In some ways, I found a sense of justice in the things the staff did to the restaurant patrons' food.

As with all comedies there has to be some seriousness in it. There's a subplot involving Dean and his outlook towards his future. Being a waiter is considered a dead-end job by many and a manager isn't any better (I've been there). I really took to Dean's character as he struggled to find his future and I enjoyed how his character turned out at the end of the movie. Monty is an extension of Van Wilder, but this time, Van got a job as a waiter. There's this great subplot of him, the under-aged (by two weeks) hostess and the manager.

This is director Rob McKittrick's first movie and the screenplay is also written by him. McKittrick does a decent job going through a typical day at the restaurant. The dialogue is decent and the film never takes itself too seriously. I really don't think that there were too many moments of belly-aching laughter, and I would best describe this movie as a "Clerks" or "Mallrats". The humour is in the personalities of each character and also on how McKittrick the plays out of those typical restaurant clichés.

I found that a lot of people didn't like the movie. Perhaps it was the gross-out comedy or the lack of any real action in the movie. Though the scene with Naomi was a little unexpected and definitely unnerving. I really think that the restaurant business is like that. It's fast-paced and stressful and you have to be nice to shitty patrons at times. You have to relieve some of that stress with comedy during your shift. I remember friends working at Planet Hollywood telling me about the antics the staff would do. Unbelievable shit. Perhaps Waiting... is a dark comedy that has exposed the gruesome underbelly that is the service industry. Whatever you think, just remember not to fuck with the people who handle your food.

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