Classic R-Rated Comedy With Marvel Star On Prime Video Is A Hilarious Nightmare

Waiting was written and directed by Tag screenwriter Rob McKittrick and serves as his first and only directorial feature film. The movie, which is loosely based on McKittrick’s actual experience as a waiter at a chain restaurant, stars a massive line-up of comedy heavy-hitters. The film touts performances from the likes of Anna Faris, Justin Long, John Francis Daley, David Koechner, Luis Guzmán, Dane Cook, and Deadpool and Wolverine‘s Ryan Reynolds.

The narrative of Waiting follows the dysfunctional staff of a chain restaurant called ShenaniganZ throughout the course of a single day, including the vengeful kitchen staff, the miserable servers, and the self-important but oblivious manager. Most of the narrative is fed to the audience through the fresh eyes of a young man named Mitch, who is training for his very first day on the job. While shadowing Ryan Reynolds’ Monty, Mitch is horrified at the unethical kitchen practices, hostile work environment, and general lack of standards held by the restaurant. 

One of the most bizarre parts of working at ShenaniganZ is a game, wherein male staff members expose themselves to one another as some kind of explicit prank. The cooks, who are champions of the game, are also highly combative to customers who send back food, inspiring them to contaminate the dishes with disgusting accouterments such as dandruff, human saliva, and other bodily fluids. You may find yourself getting sick to your stomach while watching Waiting and hoping against all that is holy that restaurants don’t actually function this way. 

In my real life, I’ve encountered numerous service industry workers who have different takes on the realism of Waiting. Some have confirmed that the scenes depict real situations from their work, while others have called the film deeply unrealistic and unnecessarily disgusting. Personally, I try my best to be as kind and accommodating to the people who handle my food as humanly possible, but I’m content to live in a state of ignorant bliss if this is truly the way that average restaurants are operating behind the scenes.

REVIEW SCORE

Like many silly comedies from the early 2000s, Waiting touts a cult following in spite of its abysmal reviews from professional critics. Today, the decades-old movie touts a 30 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, against a much more forgiving 75 percent score from general audiences. The movie certainly doesn’t compete with cinema classics like Citizen Kane, but it’s definitely worth watching for Ryan Reynolds‘ hilarious leading performance alone.

If you’re interested in checking out Waiting, you can stream the raunchy R-rated comedy on Amazon Prime Video today. Just be sure to cook something at home on the day you choose to pull it up, because ordering out might make your stomach churn.