The debut of writer-director Rob McKittrick's Waiting ... follows the exploits of several restaurant employees who while away their time by pushing the limits of depravity and irresponsibility. It's more than a little reminiscent of the first feature from another writer-director more than a decade ago.
In 1994, when the Miramax empire was just beginning its reign, writer-director Kevin Smith made a splash with his no-budget feature, Clerks. The story follows the exploits of two sales clerks who deal with their malcontentedness with irreverent humor and occasional verbal lashes at unassuming customers. The concept was genius; who hasn't held down a job they hated at some point?
McKittrick bears a striking similarity to Smith as a filmmaker. As a writer, he fashions sharp, pithy quips of dialogue out of mundane circumstances. He also opts for Smith's point-and-shoot style of cinematography.
Waiting ... borrows so much from Smith's playbook that's it's hard to figure out if McKittrick is paying tribute or stealing. He uses the same a-day-in-the-life format, and the two busboys who work at the restaurant are clearly stand-ins for Jay and Silent Bob.
The main difference between the two films is in style and taste (and lack thereof). Smith used his frequently uncouth witticisms to let viewers imagine some otherwise unimaginable absurdities. McKittrick decides to show us the rancid details in full glory. He also oversteps his boundaries when several jokes spill into racist territory. Just because I laughed at it doesn't mean I liked it.