Waist Deep

An ex-con (Tyrese Gibson) and a hooker (Meagan Good) set out to ransom his kidnapped son—which, for reasons too complicated to explain, entails robbing two top gang leaders and half the banks in Los Angeles, all on the same day. Waste Talent would be a more appropriate title; Gibson and Good are appealing screen personalities, but the script (by Darin Scott and director Vondie Curtis-Hall, from a story by Michael Mahern) is riddled with inappropriate laughs (some intentional but most otherwise), and Curtis-Hall and cinematographer Shane Hurlbut break the action up into disconnected fragments—extreme close-ups of eyes, nostrils, ears and mouths; sloppy random shots of car chases; etc. It’s almost as if they expected the movie to go straight to video—which, all things considered, was probably a fairly safe bet.