‘Waist’ isn’t a complete waste of time

There are times when style is everything. That usually occurs in a movie when there’s nothing else.

It’s not as if “Waist Deep” is devoid of quality. There are times when Vondie Curtis-Hall – an actor (a lot of television) turned director – can make your pulse race. And if nothing else, Tyrese has as much presence on screen as a Hummer does on a playground.

Still, you can watch only so many cutaways, so many shots of Meagan Good’s pouty little mouth, so many angles of crappy Los Angeles neighborhoods, so many flashes of cars whizzing south on I-5, so many automatic weapons going off like fireworks from the rez.

You need an actual story to follow. And that’s where “Waist Deep” drops into the toilet.

Not only is there no story, there’s merely concept. There’s merely conceit.

And you can’t eat what you can’t see.

Or maybe that’s … you can’t see what you can’t eat.

Oh, god, I’m lost in metaphor hell. Thanks “Waist Deep.”