Lauren Collins (Krissy), Joe Dinicol (Josh), Linda Kash (Barb), Jeigh Madjus (Simon) and John Bregar (Tommy)star in SERVITUDE | Photo Credit: Alliance Films

Servitude serves up a whole lot of funny!

Rating: ★★★★ ½ (out of 5)

Have you worked in the restaurant business? Tired of putting up with lousy customers with fake smiles and over enthusiastic kindess? Servitude is your kind of movie! Directed by Warren P. Sonoda (Textuality, 2011) and written by Michael SparagaServitude dives into the lives of a group of waiters who take over their steakhouse restaurant for one night when they find out that they are all going to be fired. Fuelled with the desire to express themselves, they ditch their everyday kindness with harsh honesty, determined to “tell-it-how-it-is” when it comes to their annoying customers.

The film can come off as a bit cheesy at start but it is actually an entertaining film to watch. The film relates to a wide audience by focusing around something we all have done at some point: taking a low-paying everyday job to support ourselves financially. Many people have worked in the restaurant business at some point (even the cast of the film have!), so the choice of taking the perspective of an everyday waiter is quite refreshing. Overall, the film uses a very simple story line to emphasize a rather interesting question: ever wonder what an everyday, average joe must feel doing a common low-paying job? Frankly, many of us take this for granted.

The cast give provide pretty good performances in the film. Joe Dinicol takes the lead as Josh Stein, a smart kid who is torn between choosing his obnoxious girlfriend Jenny (Kristen Hager) & a future career as a lawyer or his current job as a waiter. Dinicol & Hager both nail their performances, creating interesting characters that the audience can reflect on. The restaurant crew – Tommy (John Bregar), Simon (Jeigh Madjus), Barb (Linda Kash), Krissy (Lauren Collins) and Diego (Diego Fuentes) – led by restaurant owner Godfrey (Dave Foley), is a great mix of diverse characaters. Each cast member does an amazing job in highlighting the unique traits of each character, letting them shine throughout the film. As a unit, they demonstrate amazing on-screen chemistry. You feel like the restaurant is one big family, which further highlights the point of the film towards the end.

The other characters in the film bring some brilliant performances too. Aaron Ashmore takes the concept of “bad guy” to a different level with his rather tough, yet refined performance as Chase Vanhaver. Nothing is overdone or exaggerated. Enrico Colantoni delivered quite an energetic performance as the german rather-strict inspection officer Franz. Colantoni is widely known for his polished performance as Sgt. Greg Parker on CTV’s Flashpoint but in Servitude, he steps into the realm of crazy Franz and his rather odd behaviour, providing the audience with a rather refreshing piece of acting. On a final note, the role of Alex is performed brilliantly by Rachel Skarsten. She is able to make the chemistry between Dinicol and her character work and create this rather adorable character!

Servitude is a unique independent film that takes a simple topic, the right doses of humour and a good mix of diverse performances, to leave you with a fun movie experience. It is not a film for everybody as different people have different tastes. It is also by no means is this some gigantic film with a whole lot of complexity. You won’t find that in this film. What you will find is a mix of interesting performances, a lovely story and a whole lot of funny!

Servitude opens in Toronto & Vancouver on Friday March 30th. Visit servitudemovie.com for more details. This film is distributed by Alliance Films.

Advisory: The film contains crude humour and mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lB1-fy84xY]