If you thought this was going to be the next Clerks guess again. While this one has that smell of a Kevin Smith rip-off complete with its own incarnation of Jay and Silent Bob and Ryan Reynolds playing the role that could easily be confused with Jason Lee’s in Mallrats this is no Clerks or even Mallrats for that matter.
Honestly I did not even want to go see this movie, which means it didn’t have to do much to impress me. My primary motivator was that it had been sitting in the RopeofSilicon Top 10 Previews for the last month or so and even sits at the #2 position as I write this. So I felt a sense of duty to you, the reader, to make sure an opinion on the film was out there.
Now before you think I am going to rip this one a new ass-hole guess again. This movie isn’t a complete disaster, it has funny parts. Ryan Reynolds gives a performance on par with Van Wilder and the end of the movie is laugh-out-loud funny, but bits and pieces a movie they do not make. At least that’s what Yoda told me.
The film was written and directed by Rob McKittrick and is his first project. Ah ha, another correlation with Smith and Clerks. McKittrick has built a world surrounding one restaurant, Shenanigan’s, and the employees working there. You have your 24/7 PMS candidate, your stoner busboys (a.k.a. fake Jay and Silent Bob), Chi McBride as the all knowing dishwasher, couple of hottie waitresses (Anna Faris and Kaitlin Doubleday), the sexy lesbian behind the bar (Emmanuelle Chriqui), the fucked up cooks led by Luis Guzman, crazy manager, our feel good character (Justin Long) and of course our guide in Ryan Reynolds.
As you learn the ins and outs of how to turn a plate of food into a biohazard, how to perform “The Brain,” how to hit on underage women and how not to return a tip you soon realize this 93 minute movie seems much longer. The jokes are juvenile and obscene, which is fun, but where this movie really failed in the end was in the delivery. None of the jokes were given the attention deserved to make them funny. The audience is forced to draw the humor out; this script isn’t witty enough for that.
Another beef I had with the flick was the piss poor soundtrack. A teen flick like this should have a kick ass amount of music but it seems like post production on this feature lasted a day at best and some filler beds were thrown in to take us from scene to scene. There is no imagination, no gusto, to this soundtrack and it shows.
Overall, Waiting is a Saturday night rental at best and that will need to be a desperate Saturday night; it depends a lot on the “goodies” on hand while viewing. Don’t spend your money on this flick; it is sure to be on DVD in no time.
