Waiting
Orren Alex Hallmark

Two words on why I wanted to see this movie. Dane Cook. Even with a minor role in the film, Dane Cook rounds out a fairly humorous toilet bowl comedy that revolves around everyday life working at a restaurant. Starring Justin Long ( Crossroads ) as Dean, a waiter at the restaurant ironically named Shenanigan's. Dean begins to realize that his future is very grim when he is offered a job as an assistant manager at Shenanigan's, not long after he finds out an old high school classmate has graduated from college and gained a lucrative career as an electrical engineer in the process. While questioning his next move, Monty, his long time friend whose is played by Ryan Reynolds ( Van Wilder, Blade III ), continues to be as laid back as possible while convincing Dean to stick out the restaurant business.

Unless you have worked at a restaurant, Waiting is not the movie most people would find to be very funny. They go through very common situations that most employees experience such as; angry customers, smoking pot in the freezer, getting a last minute customer with 10 seconds till close, etc. Also they used a "Penis Game" to keep themselves entertained throughout the day.  The details are to be left for your imagination.  Even with that the plot revolving around Dean's character is too predictable and simple, it slows the best parts of the movie down and almost makes you sick of seeing Dean on the screen. Ryan Reynolds is his usual smartass self with quick shots and punch lines throughout the movie. For anyone who finds Reynolds annoying, his character eventually gets reemed out by Serena ( Anna Faris ) about all his little remarks.

Dane Cook, who plays a limited role as a cook, made me laugh the most. I am a huge Dane Cook fan of his stand up comedy and seeing him act was a real treat. He seems to have a lot more emotion and eagerness than the average actor especially if you have see any of the promotional stuff they did on comedy central. I laughed nearly everytime he came on and I expect him to take on bigger roles in the coming years. Just check out the group picture, he is the one with his hand raised in the back row.

 

Orren's Rating:  6.0 "Better than average only because of a crazy tattooed cook."