Waiting

Trying to do for steakhouses what Caddyshack did for golf courses, this meager movie tries to make the world of baked potatoes and porterhouses a haven for memorable profanity. Ryan Reynolds stars as a permanent waiter with an affinity for high school girls, while Justin Long plays his best friend struggling with his life status as a service industry prisoner. Gross-out humor, such as an episode where cooks add special flavors to a bitchy customer’s returned order, repulses more than it induces laughter. A shtick where male employees must show each other their genitals in progressively creative ways gets old fast, as does Reynolds’ rip-off of Chevy Chase’s comic mannerisms. Except for a couple of parties, the film never leaves the steakhouse, and that’s just boring. Character actor Luís Guzmán has a prominent role, and his presence provides most of the film’s laughs. Actually, his presence provides the film’s only real laughs.