Made on an estimated budget of $150,000, Squeeze Play proved to be a hit for the burgeoning studio. After premiering in Norfolk, Virginia, the movie was financially successful and earned positive reviews from The New York Times. With a winning formula, Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz decided to start cranking out more sex comedies. Like their last film, the team decided to base their next movie on the rising women’s liberation movement. Kaufman and Herz chose to use a restaurant as the setting for their next sex comedy. They chose a local restaurant called Marty’s in Manhattan for filming locations, which presented a new set of problems. The crew wasn’t allowed to shoot during work hours, so they had to wait and film throughout the night. While filming wrapped in 1981, “Waitress!” premiered at the Cannes Film Market in 1982 and New York later that year.
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Synopsis
Andrea (Carol Drake), Jennifer (Carol Bevar), and Lindsey (Renata Hickey) are struggling waitresses working at a high-class restaurant. In addition to the insanity of food service, each has personal problems outside of work they have to deal with. On top of her boyfriend Jerry (Jim Harris) being the restaurant’s manager, Andrea is an aspiring actress looking for work. Jennifer is working as a waitress to interview people for an article she’s hoping to get published. Lindsey’s father, Mr. Bellerman (Ed Fenton), happens to be the restaurant’s owner, and he’s making her work as punishment. Everything at the restaurant gets topsy turvy as the staff goes crazy and the patrons flee. There’s an alcoholic cook, a medical student working as a bartender, and an over-the-top cowboy, among other wacky staff and diners. A complete course meal of zaniness with some hilarity will be served in this madhouse of a restaurant.
Review
It feels like Kaufman and Herz tried to go all out with “Waitress!” to recreate the success they had before. Unfortunately, they created a movie that tries so hard to be funny that it’s too chaotic to follow. There are so many gags and jokes sprinkled throughout that it’s hard to understand what’s happening. For instance, one scene will have pratfalls, hot food jokes, and rolls flying happening all at once. There will often be a joke that works, but they’re so few and far between. I feel like Kaufman and Herz just threw whatever gags they thought of against the wall and saw what stuck. Later Troma movies like Terror Firmer would have tons of background gags, but they at least had more focus. This movie, however, is such a chaotic mess that it’s more confusing than it is funny.
Like Squeeze Play, the cast comprises relatively unknown actors who haven’t done much else before or since. Among the cast is soap opera star Hunt Block, Tony Denison from The Closer, and Chris “Mr. Big” Noth. Considering that Block and Denison went under pseudonyms, something tells me they’re not too proud of this. The rest of the cast do the best with the material and play their parts exaggeratedly. Carol Drake, in particular, really goes for it as an actress who’s desperate to play Joan of Arc. On top of looking like a bootleg Billy Crystal, Jim Harris has some of the funniest lines in the movie. The movie goes by quickly at slightly under 90 minutes, though it’s so hectic that you won’t know what happened. Overall, “Waitress!” has its moments, but it’s more of a mess than a hidden comedic gem.
Buy Waitress! from Amazon as part of The Sexy Box: https://amzn.to/3lojFtq.
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