The Slammin' Salmon (2009)

Brutal former heavyweight boxing champion Cleon "Slammin'" Salmon, now owner of a Miami restaurant, institutes a competition to see which waiter can earn the most money in one night. The winner stands to gain $10,000, while the loser will endure a beating at the hands of the champ.The concept of the film is pretty funny, The titular character loses a bet and he owes 20,000 yen, or something there about, so the staff on shift enter a pseudo competition. If they get the biggest tab, they win.If the audience were to be let in on the punchline a little earlier, this could have been an amusing film, but instead, we get an endless array of sketches involving the odd staff, and the abhorrent patrons whom frequent the restaurant.There must have been some pretty hard cuts in the film, because we are never explained as to why Heffernan became the manager, or what happened to him after he fell down the stairs. Nope, we get the old 'One Year later' text as to avoid Basil Exposition.And this is basically the film. We have a new guy whom gets progressively drunk as the film goes on (highly recommended), a sub plot involving an ingestion of a diamond ring and laxatives, and an old romance trying to be rekindled between two of the staff.Oh, and lets not forget the compulsory oddball who forgets to take his meds on time. I've never known a drug that would wear off literally minutes after forgetting to take it.It's a pretty poor effort from Broken Lizard, Beerfest and Club dread were no classics, but at least they raised a smile or two.But it's worth watching for Michael Clarke Duncan, who puts in a wonderful performance, the only funny thing about the film.

Broken Lizards movies have followed a familiar theme - a rag tag ensemble of characters, each with their own strange habits and nuances who work or live together, are thrust into oddball situations from which hilarity ensues.Although the plots follow a similarly simple theme, the movies that Broken Lizard produces are all extremely light-hearted and extremely funny. They don't take themselves or their craft seriously and this allows them to create oddball comedy at its finest. Their seemingly never-ending troupe of zany characters and quirky writing style are just what the doctor ordered when you are looking to just sit back, relax, and laugh. "No thinking required" should be the motto adopted by Broken Lizard to sum up their movies. Sometimes you just don't want to watch a political espionage thriller when you've just had a long, hard day on the job. Youw ant to go home, have dinner, grab a dozen ice-cold beers and watch a movie that won't bring you down - Broken Lizards movies do just that, and "The Slammin Salmon" is another winner from the comedy troupe. This time around the group finds themselves as waiters at the Miami restaurant of ex-heavyweight champ Cleon "Slammin" Salmon. Salmon needs to come up with $20K quick and enlists the help of his wait staff to bring in the cash. He sets up a contest, where the winning waiter/waitress wins $10K while the waiter/waitress that make the least amount of sales end up with a "broken-rib sandwich", courtesy of the Slammin Salmon himself. Needless to say, hilarity ensues as the wait staff begin stabbing each other in the back in an effort to be the one who comes out on top. The Slammin Salmon is a fine outing that should have gotten wide release.

A team of waiters is forced to raise $20,000 in one night... and the one who gets the biggest bill will receive $10,000 as a bonus (the loser gets a punch in the ribs). As you might expect, the humor increases as they try to one-up each other! First, I have to give a shout-out to the character Tara (Cobie Smulders). By far the best character in the film -- believable, likable, and just plain wholesome. I hope to see Smulders in a lot more films soon, as she is easily a top-bill-worthy player.I think this is the best Broken Lizard film since "Super Troopers". With "Club Dread" being a flop and "Beer Fest" being hit and miss (still a good film), this one is pretty consistent. Sure, they recycled the twin joke, and some of the ending parts are predictable... but if you've ever worked in a kitchen, you should appreciate this one. (I've seen others say "Waiting" is better. I strongly disagree.)

The Slammin' Salmon is actually a pretty funny movie with reasonable replay value. If you like Broken Lizard (Club Dread excluded), you'll enjoy seeing all the familiar faces. I must admit that Michael Clarke Duncan bumped the movie up to a 7 from a 6. He played his role perfectly and delivered one of the funniest lines ever written. The story is simple with minor yet major twists, but enjoyable nonetheless. There are lots of great moments and "punch-lines". If you liked Waiting (the best restaurant comedy of this generation) but cried tears of disappointment when you saw Still Waiting (the poorly written and barely funny sequel), you will appreciate the strong effort Broken Lizard put into this one.