There is, it seems, a great deal of comedy to be wrung out of boredom in the workplace. Clerks achieved classic status by dwelling on the comings and goings in a local shop. Office Space gained cult fame lingering on the lives of those who exist largely in a cubicle and obsess over their stationery. Waiting... chooses an equally mundane, yet comedically ripe, working environment, but only succeeds in making a dull job look, well, a bit dull.
Rob McKittrick’s film touches every base of the world of waiters — rude customers, defiling food, flirting with the diners — but it’s often just woefully base. The longest-running gag in the movie sees the male employees competing to show each other their soft ’n’ danglies, which might raise a chuckle if you’re the type who brings comedy props to parties or are heavily inebriated, but is a bit pathetic if you’re not. The comedy only occasionally rises above such an obvious level. There’s nothing wrong with being a bit gross, but doing it in the same pube-eating, phlegm-hocking way we’ve seen a million times is now as boring as it was once surprising.
It’s a particular shame that Waiting... fails to work, given it has such engaging leads, but while Reynolds gets a few moments to shine (largely thanks to being Ryan Reynolds), Faris, Long and Guzmán are just biding time until the end of the shift.