5) Mitch in Waiting…
There probably isn’t an adequate segue to transition from The Godfather to Waiting… so screw it. This movie was a hilarious little independent film that was clearly influenced by the work of Kevin Smith’s early material, primarily Clerks. It takes the world of misfit working young people and transplants it into a more contemporary scene, where dissatisfied characters in their 20s work in the restaurant service industry as they figure out the rest of their lives.
The Silent Bob character is mostly peripheral in Smith’s films, providing comedic reaction shots and then nuggets of wisdom in the few moments he’s allowed to speak near the end of his movies. I find the way director Rob McKittrick uses Mitch more interesting here. He’s even more of a surrogate for the audience, listening to characters confide in him and literally trying to interact and getting ignored at every moment. They proceed without a care of what he thinks (or what we think). He floats through their world observing everything, as do we.
But then the hilarious twist at the end is that he’s actually awful. He’s a total douche. He has his say at the end and it doesn’t contain a trace of wisdom but is just angry. It’s funny to be sure, but we realize at this point that he’s as awful a person as everyone else in this movie. It’s a clever trick that turns the tables on anyone who is judgmental of any of these characters by saying look, you’ve been watching this whole time, and if you think you’re better than these folks, you’re lying to yourself.
