2K Replay: WAIST DEEP

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Tyrese Gibson) at the Black Movie Awards. He lost to Presley Chweneyagae in Tsotsi.

• Best Scene/Moment (tie) Any scene between Tyrese and his son, Junior (played by Henry Hunter Hall in what might be the most innocent performance ever put in a movie) and the scene where Tyrese excuses himself by telling another character “Where’s your bathroom? I gotta shit.”

• Best Song: “Reason” by Andre “Dre Boogie” Wilson.

• Best Merch: A “Waist Deep 2006 Movie Promo…Black Hat Cap…” for $19.95. Not a bad price for a hat and the hat is pretty cool from the front (although on the back it says “Bonnie and Clyde on the Flip Side," which I’m less of a fan of).

• Director Grade: Waist Deep was directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: N/A
OK Movies: Waist Deep
Bad Movies: N/A
Unseen By Me: Gridlock’d, Glitter
Overall Grade: B-

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Running Scared (2006)

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Annapolis, ATL, Miami Vice

• Ella McCay or Waist Deep? Ella McCay

• Mall Movie? Yeah. Rogue Pictures was the distributor, and all their movies feel like mall movies.

• Only in 2006: Having The Game playing the villain feeling like a big casting coup.

• Scene Stealer: Larenz Tate.

• I Miss: Larenz Tate regularly being in movies like he was in the ‘90s and early 2000s. I’ve always really liked him. It was nice to see him in Michael earlier this year. That was his first movie since 2019. It looks like he’s mostly just been on the Starz series Power and Power Book II: Ghost in between films.

• I Don’t Miss: The Game, I guess. He’s intimidating as the villain in Waist Deep, but I don’t think it’s a great loss that he didn't act much. Also, I only like one of his songs (“Hate It or Love It”). I know he’s still around, but he hasn’t been on my radar in a really long time.

• 2006 Crush: Meagan Good.

• 2026 Crush: Meagan Good.

• What I Thought in 2006: I saw Waist Deep on a lark in Downtown Disney at the AMC Pleasure Island 24 of all places, so I think the movie got a vacation bump because of that. I enjoyed it as a Tyrese vehicle/time-waster at the time. I remember one dude in the audience was really into the car chase at the end between Tyrese and the police and was pantomiming driving really fast along with the movie.

• What I Think in 2026: Waist Deep isn’t great, but there’s things to like about it. It’s a little more ambitious than it needs to be, it gets going right away, and the characters are interesting enough even if they’re lacking dimension. I also really liked the father-son dynamic between Tyrese and Henry Hunter Hall, which gives the movie that Taken juice where you’re really invested and want the guy to get his kid back.