The Waiting Room (2007)

Directed by: Roger Goldby | 110 minutes | drama | Actors: Anne-Marie Duff, Ralf Little, Rupert Graves, Frank Finlay, Zoe Telford, Phyllida Law, Christine Bottomley, Adrian Bower, Daisy Donovan, Allan Corduner, Lizzy McInnerny, Lee Williams, Leader Hawkins, Peggy Batchelor, Polly Rose McCarthy, Finlay Kenny Tighe, Paul Popplewell

In the movie ‘The Waiting Room’, the viewer witnesses that love at first sight really does exist. Anna (Anne-Marie Duff) and Stephen (Ralf Little) both lead not very unhappy lives. Anna is a divorced woman who is largely solely responsible for raising her daughter. She secretly has an affair with neighbor and family man George (Rupert Graves), which she actually feels bad about, because George’s hard-working wife Jem (Zoe Telford) is a good friend of Anna. Stephen is a nurse in a nursing home for the elderly and lives with his girlfriend Fiona (Christine Bottomley), who wants to start having children as soon as possible, unaware that Stephen doesn’t really love her.

One day, while at a train station, Anna is talking to an old man, she meets Stephen, who happens to be looking for the man he knows from his work in the nursing home. It is love at first sight between Anna and Stephen: they know they are meant for each other. However, when their paths part, they assume they will never see each other again. But as they both move on with their lives, they realize they are not happy, and they can’t forget each other…

‘The Waiting Room’ is directed by Roger Goldby, who also wrote the screenplay. It is, after his short debut film ‘It’s Good to Talk’ (1997), the second screenplay he wrote. The strange thing about the film is that the two protagonists are actually almost not in one scene with each other, so the scene where we see the two meet is crucial to the credibility of the story. And it worked out quite well, thanks in part to the convincing acting of Anne-Marie Duff, whose character in this film is occasionally reminiscent of her character in the series ‘Shameless’, and Ralf Little, who is best known for his role in the comedy series ‘The Royle Family’.

What sounds like a romantic story is in fact not. ‘The Waiting Room’ is largely a realistic film, in which it becomes clear that many continue with the life they suffer, when in fact they are not happy at all with what or who they are stuck with. It would have done the film well if it had had a little more humor. The story is somewhat reminiscent of a romantic comedy, but in a serious form. Because it is a realistic film, the ending – without revealing too much about it – is very unrealistic and therefore a bit unbelievable.

‘The Waiting Room’ is an entertaining movie. Nevertheless, it is not a standout. Somehow, it seems like the film is trying to teach the viewer a wise life lesson, and because of this, you expect the screenplay to come up with some strong one-liners that should open viewers’ eyes about their own life. Unfortunately this is not forthcoming. Because the not bad ‘The Waiting Room’ does not have the depth that you would expect from such a film, the viewer will be left with a ‘is this all?’-feeling, which is a shame.