Waiting…

If you're hungry for a double helping of vulgarity with a side order of raunchiness, Waiting… is the dish for you: although it's about people who cook and serve the food at a typical franchise restaurant-cum-bar, Rob McKittrick's film is ostentatiously and unremittingly tasteless (which, at least in this case, is not a synonym for hilarious). The site of the purportedly wacky goings-on is a place called Shenanigans, and the chief purveyor of what passes for humor is a smug womanizer played by Ryan Reynolds, whose clueless manager assigns him the task of showing a trainee the ropes (of course, what Reynolds passes on to the newbie isn't OTJ instruction but rather a flamboyant introduction to coworkers' sexual peccadilloes and tips on how to deal with troublesome customers). What little “plot” there is concerns whether or not the most “normal” guy on the staff will accept an offer to become assistant manager—i.e., take on a soul-destroying permanent job. Unfortunately, the only “waiting” here is on the part of the viewers, for whom the credits cannot come fast enough. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include an “expanded telestrator commentary” with writer-director Rob McKittrick and producer Jeff Balis (the “telestrator” allows them to draw onscreen, like they do in football games), the 86-minute behind-the-scenes documentary “The Works” featuring interviews and interactive video commentary, 12 different “Side Dishes” with video commentaries from the cast and crew (62 min.), the 19-minute “making-of” featurette “That Little Extra,” 19 outtakes (15 min.), 13 deleted scenes (7 min.), a “Sending it Back: The Real Dish on Waiting Tables” featurette (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a whopping extras package for an awful film.] (F. Swietek)