On February 7 Lionsgate Films released to DVD Waiting, a comedy written and directed by Rob McKittrick. McKittrick, who is new to directing as well as writing, is kind of weak in his first attempt at it with this film, though he does show some promise for the direction of his work.

As someone who has worked in restaurants quite a bit when I was younger, it is very clear that this film is aimed at me and anyone like me that's had the great pleasure of kitchen work. The movie starts in a restaurant called Shenaniganz which is a combination of Applebee’s\The Outback\Ruby Tusedays and every other chain restaurant you've ever been too. It's here that we get a walkthrough of sorts, and see how the business can really be, by following a new employee on his first day. This is where we meet the manager Dan (David Koechner), who like many managers in similar settings, is the bossy cheesy pep speech giving, king of his domain type that wields the power of authority over you armed with his pride of position that -- in his opinion -- came from hard work and determination (come on you know the type). So it is no surprise when he pawns the newbie off to learn the ropes on a seasoned waiter, Monty (Ryan Reynolds) who seems to be the all knowing comedic popular waiter that is found in most restaurant settings.

This is where we are introduced the rest of the characters or staff in the film. There’s Dean (Justin Long) the decent normal guy whose only downfall is that he wasting his life by waiting tables for a living; also we meet Serena (Anna Faris), the bitchy know it all who has a comment for everything; the cooks Raddimus (Luis Guzman) and Floyd (Dane Cook) who are constantly goofing around; and we even meet the dishwashers, who in my life (like in the film) have always been young smartass potheads that don’t really listen to anyone. There are more characters in the film that all fit in to any normal restaurant surrounding and that’s what the movie really consists of - a typical day in the life of a restaurant with all the jokes and games the employees play with each other so they can try to forget how much they hate their jobs.

So as I stated director/writer Rob McKittrick is headed down the right path with Waiting. For a first film it shows a lot of promise but I felt that it came up a little short. The biggest problem I saw in this film was the pacing, it was entirely too slow for this kind of verbal comedy. Had the scenes been a little more compacted Waiting would have been ten times better. I felt the dialogue was great and the description of restaurant life was dead-on but there was too much time dedicated to reaction after something happened or was said. Don’t get me wrong, the conversation between the employees was hilarious but could have been presented better.

It was really great to see one of America’s most versatile actors Luis Guzman playing the role of Raddimus, one of the cooks. Though he did seem a little out of place with all the younger actors in this film and that’s only because they had him hanging out and partying like a teen. I think if it was anyone else his age they wouldn’t have been able to pull it off. Another character that was great was Floyd played by Dane Cook but I have a personal problem with his character and that is that the role was too small. I think Dane Cook is one of the funniest modern comedians out. He stands out above most on sheer body animation alone. Great actor combo for a movie: Dane Cook and Ryan Reynolds. Those two starring together in a film is a great start to any comedy. But that brings me to the character of Monty played by Ryan Reynolds. I've always appreciated the comedy of Reynolds, I think he adds that conceited know it all slickness to any film he's in and he wasn’t found lacking in this one.

The cinematography and film work as well as a culmination of A-list actors has to be due to budget. Or at least the lack there of, all of the shooting was done in the restaurant except for a couple of home scenes a bathroom scene and a couple of outdoor scenes and there were no high budget special effect which is why I think the movie looks so great. So I guess what I'm getting at is that the movie Waiting is definitely not a must see but if you see it on cable and Scarface isn’t on its worth watching. If you do decide to rush out and purchase this two-disc DVD set it includes deleted scenes, outtakes, director and cast commentary, a documentary on the film and much more. I can honestly say there’s no lacking in the bonus features department. This film is approximately 93 minutes long its rated R for strong crude and sexual humor, pervasive language and some drug use. Waiting the DVD is on sale everywhere on February 7.