BEFORE: Justin Long carries over from "Waiting..." as do NINE other actors, which is really something, but I supposed it's not too unexpected for a sequel film.
Tomorrow on Turner Classic Movies, William Frawley links from "Something to Sing About" to the day's first film, can you fill in the other links? Answers below.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26 on TCM (31 Days of Oscar, Day 26)
6:00 am "My Wild Irish Rose" (1947) with _____________ linking to:
8:00 am "Captains of the Clouds" (1942) with _____________ linking to:
10:00 am "They Were Expendable" (1945) with _____________ linking to:
12:15 pm "The Long Voyage Home" (1940) with _____________ linking to:
2:15 pm "The Enchanted Cottage" (1945) with _____________ linking to:
4:00 pm "Foreign Correspondent" (1940) with _____________ linking to:
6:00 pm "Primrose Path" (1940) with _____________ linking to:
8:00 pm "Swing Time" (1936) with _____________ linking to:
10:00 pm "Royal Wedding" (1951) with _____________ linking to:
12:00 am "Good News" (1947) with _____________ linking to:
1:45 am "The Three Musketeers" (1948) with _____________ linking to:
4:00 am "Green Dolphin Street" (1947)
Doing a little better today, thanks to my previous chains where I watched every outstanding Alfred Hitchcock film and every film starring missing link #8. So another 3 out of 12 gets me to 96 seen out of 302, but that's still only 31.8%.
THE PLOT: More misadventures of the staff of the fictional chain restaurant Shenaniganz as they cope with competition from a Hooters-esque restaurant called Ta-Ta's Wing Shack.
AFTER: I don't know if it's possible for a 2-film franchise to "lose its way" in its sequel, especially when the first film didn't have much of a "way" or a "sense of direction" to begin with, but they sure tried. The biggest stars from "Waiting..." were Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris, and neither appeared in this sequel, released five years later. About half of the second-level stars, like John Francis Daley, Dane Cook and Wendie Malick didn't come back either, or perhaps they weren't asked to. So the promotions department found themselves having to champion a film where the biggest stars were actors who are usually in supporting roles, like Luis Guzman and Chi McBride. Guzman's a lot of fun, but have you ever heard anyone say, "Hey, let's go out and see that new film with Luis Guzman in it?" Outside of the Guzman family, I don't think anyone has ever made their selection at a cinema based on his involvement. Virtual unknowns like Robert Patrick Benedict are also front and center on the poster, and so is Andy Milonakis, who made his fame as "that annoying fat white kid who thinks he can rap" on an MTV comedy series and who most people were trying their best to forget about by 2009.
Still, a couple of comedy stars like David Koechner and Justin Long returned, though their roles were minimal, basically long cameos, and their requests to be left off the poster and out of the credits were apparently granted. That's, umm, not a good sign, when actors, traditionally an attention-craving bunch, don't mind having their efforts not mentioned. Another bad sign, I recorded this from Epix's "Drive-In" channel, but you can also watch this film for FREE at imdb.com - or on Tubi or Vudu, also for FREE. In this new streaming age, is any film that you can watch without paying really worth watching at all? Amazon and iTunes are both renting "Still Waiting..." for $3.99 but I bet they don't get many takers - like, why would anyone pay four bucks if they can watch this on another service for nothing?
Anyway, because I'm a completist - basically I'm watching "Still Waiting..." so that YOU don't have to, so "You're welcome." - let's catch up with the remains of the Shenaniganz crew after Monty, Serena, Mitch, Amy and Floyd all moved on to other jobs. Raddimus is still cooking, but he moved over to Ta-Ta's, which is doing great business just because they have sexy waitresses in tight shorts and halter tops. Gee, what restaurant does THAT sound like? Calvin also moved over to Ta-Ta's after he finally got his swagger back and can urinate again, he's now the manager of the Wing Shack. Naomi and Natasha are still working at Shenaniganz, but manager Dan got bumped up to district manager, and Dean somehow leapfrogged over him and is HIS boss (he explains late in the film how this happened). And dishwasher Bishop is gone, too, only he shows up here as a customer to dispense more philosophical wisdom. (I was kind of hoping he was the secret regional manager, but alas, it wasn't to be.) Oh, and Nick and T-Dog are still taking out the trash, seems appropriate.
Ugh, already I feel I care too much about these characters' lives, when none of them are really interesting enough in the long run. The newcomers include manager Dennis, who's a restaurant lifer who thought that with each step up the corporate ladder he'd finally have access to more money and all the hot women, only that just hasn't panned out for him. There's also "playa" Agnew, who seems like about what you'd expect to get when you cast a "Ryan Reynolds replacement", cook Mason who can't talk to girls because of a speech impediment, other cook Chuck who loves to torment Mason, bartender Hank who's in a band (nuff said) and dweeby Joshua, who has stress dreams about four tables being seated at once in his section, then being naked in front of those customers.
When you get right down to it, "Still Waiting..." is nothing but one stress dream after another, which for all I know, could be a very accurate portrayal of working in a busy restaurant. There's the "everybody's suddenly ordering French onion soup" stress moment, there's the "we need to have our best sales day ever to make our quarterly profit margin" stress moment, and over at Ta-Ta's there's the attempt to turn the "penis-showing game" into the "vagina-showing game" (Umm, didn't they establish in the first film why that can't be a thing?) and the "manager wants to sleep with all the hot waitresses" stress moment. This was filmed years before the #metoo movement, but I'm pretty sure that sort of behavior was a whole stack of H.R. violations, even back in 2009.
If you want to watch a film about a mismanaged restaurant, with a bunch of screw-up waiters trying to hit a sales quota in order to satisfy a clueless manager, then please, I beg you, watch "The Slammin' Salmon" instead. At least that film is funny the second time you watch it. Again, "You're welcome."
Also starring Robert Patrick Benedict, David Koechner, Luis Guzman, Alanna Ubach, Chi McBride, Vanessa Lengies, Max Kasch, Andy Milonakis, J.D. Evermore (all carrying over from "Waiting..."), John Michael Higgins (last seen in "Shimmer Lake"), Steve Howey (last seen in "Game Over, Man!"), Rob Kerkovich, Erin Foster, Philip Vaden, Chris Williams, Rocco Botte, Kirk Fox (last seen in "The Patriot"), Amanda Loncar, Tania Raymonde, K.D. Aubert, Danneel Harris (last seen in "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas), Janet Varney (last heard in "Norm of the North"), Maggie Lawson, Jennifer Howard, Jennifer Rhodes, with cameos from Missi Pyle (last seen in "Captain Fantastic"), Adam Carolla (last heard in "Ralph Breaks the Internet").
RATING: 3 out of 10 hula hoops
ANSWERS: The missing TCM "360 Degrees of Oscar" links are Dennis Morgan, Louis Jean Heydt, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, Herbert Marshall, Joel McCrea, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, June Allyson, Frank Morgan.
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