Plot
Young employees at Shenaniganz restaurant collectively stave off boredom and adulthood with their antics.

Release Year: 2005

Rating: 6.8/10 (41,955 voted)

Critic's Score: 30/100

Director: Rob McKittrick

Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, John Francis Daley

Storyline
It's the dinner shift at Shenanigan's. Dan, the clueless boss, assigns Mitch, 22, a trainee, to Monty, the smooth talker who chases girls for one-night stands. Dean, a waiter, also 22, feels that life is passing him by. Dan offers him the assistant manager job and gives him until midnight to decide. Other waiters, cooks, and bus boys have their issues and personalities. Bishop, the dishwasher, is their counselor. During this shift, Monty may learn something, Dean makes his decision, Dan makes a play for the not-yet-18 hostess, customers get their comeuppance, the guys all play the in-house homophobic flashing game, the gals demonstrate why they won't, and Mitch gets the last word.

Cast:
Ryan Reynolds - Monty
Anna Faris - Serena
Justin Long - Dean
David Koechner - Dan
Luis Guzmán - Raddimus
Chi McBride - Bishop
John Francis Daley - Mitch
Kaitlin Doubleday - Amy
Rob Benedict - Calvin (as Robert Patrick Benedict)
Alanna Ubach - Naomi
Vanessa Lengies - Natasha
Max Kasch - T-Dog
Andy Milonakis - Nick
Dane Cook - Floyd
Jordan Ladd - Danielle

Taglines: Hungry for Laughs? (DVD)

Official Website: Lions gate Films [United States] |

Release Date: 7 October 2005

Filming Locations: Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $6,021,106 (USA) (9 October 2005) (1652 Screens)

Gross: $16,124,543 (USA)

Runtime: 94 min

Trivia:
As an April Fools' Day joke, director Rob McKittrick and actor Luis Guzmán staged a "diva fight" on set. During the filming of the scene where Calvin imagines his co-workers cheering him on at the urinal, Guzmán pretended to ditch a line from the script in favor of his own line. The fight was so realistic that the other actors on set became very uncomfortable and quiet when Guzmán "stormed" out.

Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: When Dean gets to work with Serrena and his girlfriend, the camera is reflected in the window of his door when he opens it.

Quotes:
T-Dog: [referring to how he would use a woman like a bowling ball] Two in the pink; one in the stink!

Austin Movie Show review

Rating: 10/10

I hated (HATED!) being a waitress, but this movie is so hilarious and so ballsy that it almost makes me want to go back to the summer of 1999 to work one more shift at TGI Fridays. Waiting is the best, most accurate, most honest, and most riotously funny movie ever made about the service industry. Here's how I see it – the world is divided into two groups of people: those who have waited tables and those who haven't. Those who have never worked a day of their lives in a restaurant may find this movie amusing, but they'll think it's too absurd to be real, and they'll probably never give a second thought to this movie ever again.

But those of you who have felt the pain, degradation, and humiliation of waiting tables will p**s your pants laughing at how PERFECT this movie is. First-time writer/director Rob McKittrick has created a dead-on depiction of 24 hours in the restaurant biz. The movie opens at a late-night party with lots of underage drinking, smoking, and sex. Then we see the wait staff hung-over at work the next day. The restaurant they all work at is called "Shenanigans," but it looks an awful lot like the TGI Fridays I worked at.

All the characters in Waiting are based on the real people who work in every restaurant. There's the hot/slutty/underage hostess, the fat and ugly cook who somehow dates a really hot waitress, the stoner/punk bust boy, and the manager with the chip on his shoulder. All the customers in this film (the cheap red necks who don't know how to tip, the b****y women, the drunk and horny men) are all customers I've waited on. And no filmmaker has ever so accurately portrayed the complex and irreconcilable tension between the wait staff and kitchen staff.

But at the end of the night, no matter what drama unfolds, no matter what dishes brake, and no matter how much money you make in tips (or don't make), everyone gets wasted and parties together, and you all know you're in it together. Waiting simply tells a story about a profession that most people never give a second thought to. But it tells that story flawlessly. Can't wait for the DVD.

Comments: