What’s the Deal with ‘Busboys’?

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Where’s the bus, boys? (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

Starring: David Spade, Theo Von, Tim Dillon, Charlotte McKinney, Trevor Wallace, Jay Pharoah, Chris Elliott, Jimmy Gonzales, Michelle Ortiz, Leah McKendrick, Christian Gnecco Quintero, Vanessa Gonzales, Tiago Martinez

Director: Jonah Feingold

Running Time: 93 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: April 10, 2026 (Theaters)

Comedies belong in theaters, even when they’re struggling to elicit the laughs. So I’m heartened that Busboys made its way into multiplexes, despite the lack of a major studio serving as the distributor. It stars David Spade and Theo Von as a couple of guys who don’t really seem to know how the world works as they obtain the titular restaurant job in the harebrained belief that they’ll soon be able to upgrade to waiters and then get some actual respect from the world.

There are a few turns of phrases and oddball physical choices that had me chuckling, but those moments are relatively rare in an experience that otherwise felt unceasingly gross and malevolent. There’s plenty of fodder to make the case that Busboys is racist, sexist, transphobic, etc., although focusing on any one of those bullet points misses the larger message that this movie believes that every single Homo sapiens on the planet is more or less irredeemable. I appreciated that the creative approach was guided by unbridled wackiness, but I would have preferred if gentleness and open-heartedness could have also taken the steering wheel.

Although, by all means, keep releasing nonsense like this onto the big screen. After all, one guy who was sitting several seats down from me was absolutely losing it during one scene to the point that he actually cried out, “I can’t stop laughing!” So… net positive?

Grade: Take That Bus Out of Town!

How to Become ‘Scrambled’ at the Movies

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How Scrambled are they?! (CREDIT: Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions)

Starring: Leah McKendrick, Ego Nwodim, Andrew Santino, Clancy Brown, Laura Cerón

Director: Leah McKendrick

Running Time: 97 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: February 2, 2024 (Theaters)

Scrambled is about a single 34-year-old woman named Nellie (Leah McKendrick, who also wrote and directed) who decides to freeze her eggs in case she doesn’t get pregnant the usual way anytime soon. So of course, I now have to ask: would I like to become scrambled myself?

Obviously, I can’t go on the same exact journey as Nellie, seeing as I don’t have a body that ovulates. But I certainly could one day undergo some medical procedure that requires me to poke needles into my body in preparation. That begs the question: could I actually stomach such a regimen? Perhaps my experience watching Scrambled could provide some hints.

It didn’t start off so great, as I kept holding my hands over my eyes whenever Nellie injected herself. But then I remembered that back in 2005, I had no trouble remaining focused during the infamous syringe pit scene in Saw II. So as Nellie made her final injection, I took Alejandro Amenábar’s advice and opened my eyes. And well, I’m still standing, and just a little bit scrambled.

Grade: Enough Eggs to Be Viable