Review of Restaurant (1999) by Christopher Q — 08 Aug 2015

"A gay romp with a drunk-dialing Adrien Brody." - Having worked in the restaurant industry for quite some time, as well as being an aspiring actor familiar with Hoboken, New Jersey, I can attest to this film's realistic portrayal of an all-too-often clichéd premise of the suffering 'creative type' stuck in a seemingly haughty environment, performing menial work and engaging exceptionally ignorant people on daily basis.

Unfortunately, 'Restaurant' tries too hard to be something it's not: "A thought provoking piece on bigotry and racial inequality.. Instead it serves up a uniquely sombre tale about a young man struggling to make ends meet as he tires to live out his dream as a playwright, and who just happens to have a black ex-girlfriend with whom he slowly grows further and further apart from.

The entire message about race, though not lost, is only evident towards the very end of the film, despite being alluded to a few times randomly , and almost forcibly throughout the beginning and middle.

(The poster gives it away, but having not seen it, you'd probably have no idea what the film is actually about).