Quartile rating: 6/10 · 2 ratings
Employees at a Bennigan's-like restaurant (called, creatively enough, Shenanigan's), kill time before their real lives get started. But while they wait, they'll have to deal with picky customers who want their steak cooked to order and enthusiastic managers who want to build the perfect wait staff. Luckily, these employees have effective revenge tactics.
Waiting... is a raunchy ensemble comedy that captures the slacker culture of chain restaurant work with some genuine authenticity. The plot is threadbare — essentially a slice-of-life day-in-the-life with little narrative arc or momentum. The ensemble cast (Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, Luis Guzmán) brings energy and comedic timing that elevates the thin material. Cinematography is functional at best, with no distinctive visual style. The film has a certain novelty in its specific restaurant-world setting and crude workplace humor that distinguishes it from generic rom-coms, though it never transcends its low-budget origins. The ending is appropriately underwhelming — fitting the film's ethos but unsatisfying dramatically.