Waiting… (2005) was a, ahem, spunky little comedy that spoke some rarely-voiced truths about the grind of the restaurant business, and it developed a decent cult following thanks to its unbridled crude humour and batty characters, including a smarmy ladies’ man played by Ryan Reynolds (mentioned in my earlier review of Adventureland). It was uneven, but funny.
So, why not make a sequel? Still Waiting… (2009) was released straight to video, and I read a DVD review which made the movie sound terrible, and decided I had to see for myself. I paid about 60-70% attention to the movie through its runtime, since I couldn’t justify spending a full 90 minutes on it.
Why do I do this to myself? Well, you see, a guy getting ready for work in the morning, peeing in the sink at the same time as he’s brushing his teeth, can be funny. I’m not saying it’s for everyone, but it can be funny. This film doesn’t manage that. It’s not executed correctly. I’ll watch Citizen Kane, and I’ll watch The Great Escape, and I’ll watch Taxi Driver, and I’ll still happily watch a guy peeing in a sink if they make it funny.
But Still Waiting… is a crude, racist, homophobic, patchy, insubstantial film, presenting continued tales of these hapless restaurant staff (the ones who signed on for the sequel – Ryan Reynolds has left the building, and Justin Long and Luis Guzman have just brief cameos) with no real expansion beyond the initial idea. I have noted earlier my deliberation over whether or not to review made-for-TV movies, so in light of that result it was a no-brainer to include direct-to-video movies, but I really hope I don’t come to regret these decisions. Killdozer had better be worth it.
Human beings are capable of forgetting.
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