Waiting (NR, 2005)

WAITING is about Dean (Justin Long) and his buddies at a TGI Fridays-type theme restaurant. While Dean, a high school honors student turned future restaurant assistant manager, struggles with what to do next with his life, his friend Monty ( Ryan Reynolds) is busy cruising underage girls, insulting a girl he used to date, and showing the ropes to the new kid (John Francis Daley). Among the other stock characters are the hilariously burnt out Amy, the lecherous older cook Raddimus, the contemptible customers, the pothead suburban pseudo-gangsters Nick and T-Dog, the ineffectual boss --and set pieces. There's the prissy customer who keeps sending her food back until, stepped on and otherwise defiled by the kitchen staff, the food finally returns to her in a way she can stomach. There's the tempting deflowering of an underaged hostess. There's the attempt by the boss to become friends with his employees.

Waiting tries to be everything -- a coming-of-age movie, teenage sex farce, romantic comedy, and worker angst flick -- and sticks it together with the, er, glue of "pervert" jokes and politically incorrect humor. Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything particularly well.

If there's any reason to watch this movie -- and that's a big if -- it's for Justin Long's sympathetic rendering of a guy in the throes of his quarter-life crisis. When his former honors class peer comes in to rub Dean's nose in his success, you want to punch him just as much as Dean does. And when Dean finally makes his decision about his future, you cheer him on.

Studio: Live Entertainment
Director: Rob McKittrick
Cast: Anna Faris, Justin Long, Luis Guzman, Ryan Reynolds
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 92 minutes
Theatrical release: February 7, 2005
DVD release: February 7, 2006
MPAA Rating: NR
MPAA explanation: explicit sexual discussion and adult situations