ironhorse_iv
The waiters and waitresses of 'the Slammin' Salmon', one of Miami's most popular seafood restaurants can't seem to get a break. Not only do they make a mere low hourly wage, but now, their boss, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, 'Slammin' Cleon Salmon (Michael Clarke Duncan), own money to a Japanese Yakuza, and must paid the amount, in one night business or else, the restaurant will have to close. Will, the manager, Rich (Kevin Heffernan) & his crew, including the likes of: Nuts (Jay Chandresekhar), a heavily medicated man, Conner (Steve Lemme) former actor, Donnie Kinogie (Paul Soter), busboy turned waiter, Guy Metdrapedes (Eric Stolhanske), arrogant pretty-boy, Tara (Cobie Smulders), med student; and Mia (April Bowlby), ballet/beauty queen, be able to pull off, the biggest sale in their little restaurant history? Watch the movie directed by Kevin Heffernan, to find out! Without spoiling the fifth movie from the comedy troupe, Broken Lizard, too much, I found the film to be hilarious, but, not as funny, as their other works such as 2001's 'Super Troopers'. Some of the jokes did fall flat, like the nose-job subplot with Conner, Morgan Fairchild & Dick Lobo (Lance Henriksen). Other jokes, goes nowhere, such as identical twins gimmick with Donnie and Dave (Also played by Paul Soter). Furthermore, jokes like Jay Chandresekhar acting crazy, are, just recycled humor from 2006's 'Beerfest'. None of them, are particularly intelligent or memorable. However, not all the jokes were bad. Michael Clarke Duncan steals the movie, as the champ-boxer restaurant owner. Some of the best moments in the film, involved him, mispronouncing words, and threaten his staff. Who knew, that Duncan had a comedy side to him. Other characters, that I love, was Kevin Hefferman as the lovable, Rich, whom, just trying to survive the night, while, also bypassing, a wedding ring that he accidentally ate. I also, found the cameos from Will Forte, Sendhil Ramamurthy & Jim Gaffigan, equaling as funny. Nevertheless, as much as I love, those characters; the true reason, while I really like this movie is because it cover pretty much all of the stress points about working in that type of an environment, such as dealing with mean-spirited & nitpicky customers, or how there's always that party of one who sits there slowly, taking their time during dinner rush hour. It even show some of the kitchen hijinx, such as coworkers scarfing down extras in the kitchen, or people getting orders, wrong. All of these stuff actually happens in a daily basic! Yet, the movie does completely exaggerates or go over-the top, during certain stuff. Honestly, I really don't see, a waitress being able to serve food, after, third degree burns or another waiter, going around buck naked, without taking his meds. The restaurant would close down, regardless, if they make the money or not, due to violations of many health and safety codes. Also, the idea, that a restaurant would rehired a worker, after, he storm out and make a huge mess with coleslaw, seem, very not-liking to happen in real-life. Talking about unrealistic terms, the rush relationship between Tara and Donnie was also jarring. It's weird that, one day of work, would make them, into a couple. Plus, treating female characters like Tara as a prize for males, because they did good work, doesn't sound right. Another thing, I did feel the movie could work, better, if it was a little more grounded in its pacing as well. There were a little, too much, flashbacks, that wasn't really needed, such as Rich's prologue & wedding scene, which really doesn't do anything to move the main plot. The film should had, more of a one-day coverage approach, similar to other restaurant comedies such as 2005's 'Waiting' & 2006's 'Clerks II' with its timeline. Another thing, the movie could had done, is work on the editing, a little more. There was a lot of continuity problems, throughout the film. It was pretty jarring, how fast, the restaurant filled up or seeing characters, pick up same items, multiply times, during a few shots. The last thing, the movie could had done, is feature, more scenes with the other members of the staff, such as the cooks, and hostess. I felt, like those characters, was a bit, underwhelmed, as a lot of humor, could had come with them. Overall: Despite the childish amount of endless string of low brow, vulgar, profanity-filled insult-dialogues and some pointless outlandish slap-sticky scenes. This movie is not that bad. It was funny, for the most part. Just wish, it depict more of real-life workplace atmosphere than it did. Still, I highly recommended watching for anybody, hungry for a comedy. It's worth the time, digesting.
