It is amazing to notice how many movies the Cinema has dedicated to the waiters and to the restaurants industry. Indeed, many movies have featured waiters or waitresses and have given them the main role. Not surprising at all, the French Cinema is the one which has dedicated to the waiters the more movies.
The list of famous actors who have played at least once during their career the role of a garçon de café or a waitress is also impressive: from Charlie Chaplin to Fernandel, Yves Montant and more recently Gad Elmaleh, Audrey Tautou, Ryan Reynolds and Alex van Warmerdam.
So, let’s have a look at some movies that every waiter can sympathize with…!
Les rois du sport (The sport of kings, 1937, French)
Servers at the Café des Sports in Marseille, Jules and Fernand (played by the French actor Fernandel) have participated in the waiters race and Jules won, pocketing the premium. He immediately gambles it, betting against a Parisian impresario Burette, that the local football team into which Fernando is playing will beat that of Pans. Jules wins his pan but in the meantime Burette has disappeared. And so begin the adventures of the two Marseilles waiters who take to sporting careers. …
Waiter (2006, Dutch)
Waiter tells the story of Edgar (Alex van Warmerdam), a waiter with a flair for the unfortunate. His wife is sick, his girlfriend Victoria (Ariane Schluter) is overly possessive, customers at work constantly bully him and his neighbours make his life impossible.
Fed up with the way his life is going, Edgar goes to the house of Herman (Mark Rietman), the scriptwriter who invented Edgar and is currently writing his story.
Caught in a Cabaret (1914, American)
Charlie (played by Charlie Chaplin) is a clumsy waiter in a cheap cabaret, suffering the strict orders from his boss. He’ll meet a pretty girl in the park, pretending to be a fancy ambassador, despite the jealousy of her fiancée. Click here to watch the movie.
The Waiters’ Ball (1916, American)
A pretty cashier in a small, cheap restaurant has two ardent suitors in the cook and the waiter. All the workers at the restaurant are looking forward to the Waiters’ Ball where they have to go fully-dressed. Unfortunately the waiter has nothing to wear and so he decides to steal them to the cook. The cook then decide to steal the dress of the dishwasher….and so the troubles begin…
Waiting (2005, American)
The film focuses on several characters. One of the main protagonists, Dean (Justin Long), has been a waiter for four years since graduating from high school, and hasn’t earned a degree during his four years at a community college. When Dean learns from his mother (Monica Monica) that a former high school classmate, Chett (Travis Resor), now has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, he begins to rethink his directionless life. Dean’s lecherous friend and co-worker, Monty (Ryan Reynolds), is in exactly the same situation, but has accepted that his future lies with the restaurant, Shenaniganz. Monty is put in charge of training Mitch (John Francis Daley), a newly hired waiter who can never get a word in edgewise throughout most of the film.
The waiters preoccupy themselves with endless gossip, complaining about the customers and seeking covert revenge on particularly rude patrons. Each employee has his or her own problems and stories, which are interwoven with the ebb and flow of business.
Garçon ! (1983, French)
After a life of emotional and professional upsets, Alex (Yves Montant) finds himself headwaiter in a chic Parisian restaurant. Well into middle age, divorced but still very much a ladies’ man, he has one great ambition: to open an amusement park by the sea. One day, an old flame, Claire, suddenly re-enters his life. For Alex, the fires of love are easily re-kindled, but Claire has another man in her life…
Priceless (2006, French)
Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a shy waiter at a luxury hotel, pretends to be a millionaire and awakens the interest of Irène (Audrey Tautou), a golddigger who makes wealthy men pay for her bills. He uses his barman skills to make her impressive cocktails but troubles begin after she knows the truth.
The Grand duchess and the waiter (1926, American)
Menjou is a French millionaire who disguises himself as a waiter in order to enter the service of a grand duchess with whom he has fallen in love.
Amelie Poulain (2001, French)
‘’The fabulous destinity of Amelie Poulain” tells the story of a shy waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation.
The Slammin’ Salmon (2009, American)
A movie about one incredibly trying night of service at the eponymous restaurant… The film is about the owner of a restaurant initiating a contest to see which of his waiters can earn the most money in a single night, with a prize of $10,000.
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