By By Michael Gleason
The theme restaurant has become a cliché in the culinary landscape of America. Everyone, seemingly, has been to one of those restaurants: tacky things on the wall, falsely cheery wait staff and generic food. Waiting takes place in one such establishment, a fictional chain called ShenaniganZ, giving the audience a humorous look at those who handle our food on a regular basis. The film takes on an arena ripe for parody and prime for satire. Waiting is a gross, crude and juvenile ode to service industry employees. It is also uproariously funny.
The movie is perfectly cast. Ryan Reynolds carries the movie, turning in a Van Wilder-esque performance. He is the de facto leader of the wait staff, the cynical antihero that forces the movie forward with his morally questionable actions. He is charged with taking a recent hire (John Francis Daley) through the restaurant hell that is ShenaniganZ.
Justin Long (Dodgeball), the real protagonist of the story, goes through an early-20s life crisis as he struggles to decide whether to accept a promotion at the restaurant or reject the profession altogether. David Koechner (Anchorman) is the tone-perfect clueless boss who abuses his power because of the failures in his life. Luis Guzman leads the kitchen staff while constantly trying to score with his girlfriend and engaging in his rather crude “game.” Andy Milonakis and Max Kasch are wannabe gangsters, trying constantly to intimidate their fellow coworkers, but failing horribly. The entire staff of the restaurant is hilariously dysfunctional: the busboys are always trying to get high, the kitchen staff “takes care of” food sent back, the waitresses use sex appeal for tips, the dishwasher spends his time psychoanalyzing the rest of the staff and everyone secretly curses the customers.
The jokes in the movie are extremely unsophisticated. Primarily consists of mostly of the bathroom humor variety, but they go so far over the top that they still end up being riotous.
The total familiarity that the film elicits is really the top selling point: any former service-industry employee can see the truths of this picture. The workers, the bosses and the customers all seem ripped from real life. Truly, this movie is in the vein of such movies as Clerks and OfficeSpace, though it too often goes for cheaper laughs than either of those classics.
There are certainly flaws in this film. Only one of the characters undergoes any real growth during the course of the film: the rest are all seemingly trapped in their current lifestyles. Certainly, this is true to life, but it is also unsatisfying. If the characters don’t grow, then the film feels pointless. Plot is in short supply; most of the vignettes are setups for cheap jokes and are forgotten quickly. The protagonist is given little enough screen time to let his story play out; in any other movie, his would be the secondary plot. Much of the film is devoted to Reynolds, as he treats customers and coworkers with anarchic glee. Reynolds’ character is clearly the most memorable of the film, which raises the question: why wasn’t he the main character?
However, for an extremely entertaining comedy, Waiting fits the bill. The movie simply knows its target audience (teens and 20-somethings who enjoy shock humor) and attacks it with gusto. Those out of the target audience should avoid it like the plague. Be warned, though: this movie will make you want to steer clear of chain restaurants for quite a long time.
Final Grade: B-
Though Ryan Reynolds (right) isn’t the main character in Waiting, he’s the one who steals the spotlight. (Image courtesy cinema.com)