Dinner and a movie. It's the bedrock of date nights everywhere.

"Waiting ..." will make you lose your appetite for food and, maybe, movies. It's one of those comedies where vengeful wait staff and kitchen workers show a churlish customer who is boss by doing disgusting things to her steak dinner.

	Steven Teagle Justin Long, left, and Ryan Reynolds yuck it up in "Waiting ...." Click photo for larger image. "Waiting ..." Rating: R for strong crude and sexual humor, pervasive language and some drug use. Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long. Director: Rob McKittrick. "Waiting ..." Web site

The unsuspecting patron gets what she deserves, a veteran tells a newbie. "She broke the cardinal rule: Don't [expletive] with people who handle your food."

"Waiting ..." is set in the creatively spelled ShenaniganZ, a chain restaurant with brass railings, faux Tiffany lamps, generic funky decor and employees who, in their off hours, party and pair off.

As the story opens, a 22-year-old waiter named Dean (Justin Long) begins questioning his career path or lack of one, and a trainee (John Francis Daley, Sam from "Freaks and Geeks" all grown up) is learning the ropes. They include juvenile games involving the flashing of male genitalia, sanitary conditions that would send a health inspector on a hunger strike and the great divide between real life and the rah-rah introductory video for employees.

Writer-director Rob McKittrick says he was once a 23-year-old restaurant employee who was "basically shaping up to be a loser." But, after working at enough eateries to recognize the types -- burned-out waitress, clueless manager, hot hostess -- he saw the makings of a screenplay.

The cast is not without its notables, including Long, plus Ryan Reynolds as an ingratiating, womanizing waiter and Luis Guzman as a cook, but it sabotages itself by not knowing when to quit with the raunchy talk and gross-out gags, such as the serving of food that has been dropped on the floor.

Assembling a roster of characters who factor into a big payoff at the end doesn't make for a movie any more than tossing junk food on a kitchen counter makes for an appetizing buffet. After a while, both will trigger your gag reflex.