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• Cultural Elite 2004

This Issue 10/06/2005

Also in this issue

• Flying for foodies
• Guides
• In transit
• Airport ales
• Destination: claymation

Novice director Rob McKittrick's new film Waiting... signals yet another addition to the "frat pack" genre. Starring the dry-witted Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder) and the charismatic Justin Long (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story), the film delivers on its primary objective to supply cheap laughs and hair-raisingly uncomfortable sexual moments.

The film's central protagonist, Dean (Long) has been waiting tables at the local chain restaurant Shenanigans for four years. When his mother lectures him about an old friend who has just earned a degree in electrical engineering, Dean begins to contemplate his life over the course of a hard day's work at Shenanigans. Conversely, Dean's friend and coworker Monty (Reynolds) seems content with his life of sexual escapades with minors and excessive alcohol abuse. Sadly, the rest of the cast, including David Koechner and especially John Francis Daley (as Monty's young trainee), remains unutilized.

Though Waiting begins in a rather lackluster fashion, those who can withstand the barrage of bathroom humor and an (initially) confusing plot are in for a solid dose of one liners and the type of physical comedy that has became customary of this genre. The film falls generally in line with expectations, proving that Hollywood can deliver a decent comedy in the notoriously dreadful fall months.