The Slammin’ Salmon
(Starz/Anchor Bay)

New on DVD from the brain trust that brought you Super Troopers and Beerfest, Broken Lizard Industries, comes a watered down spin-off of the chain restaurant comedy Waiting.

Broken Lizard’s 2009 movie, The Slammin’ Salmon, revolves around a Mike Tyson-esque former heavyweight champion who now owns an expensive seafood restaurant named Cleon Salmon. The Champ winds up $20,000 in debt to the Japanese mob, expects his waiters to pick up the slack, so the manager devises a competition for them to try and make the most money and hilarity should ensue.

The humor is a little tame, but Cleon’s over the top antics provide a few good laughs. Otherwise, this movie is nothing special, and compared to some of the other comedies by the Broken Lizard troupe, doesn’t come close to living up to its potential. The group, most notable for their frat-boy style humor (think Beerfest), totally shies away from gross-out comedy, for which restaurants make the perfect setting.

The characters are also really underdeveloped. Cleon’s craziness is the reason for the movie, but he’s more of a supporting role to the team of waiters than their boss. For the first half of the movie, Cleon makes just a few 30 second appearances where he barks some orders and pronounces something incorrectly.

If you want to be mildly entertained, this movie isn’t a bad choice, but don’t expect a top-notch comedy out of The Slammin’ Salmon. If you want to watch a really funny movie about waiters, rent Waiting instead.