YMMV / Waist Deep

• Cliché Storm: This was a major criticism of the film.
• Complete Monster: Big Meat is a psychopathic crime boss who recently burned a woman and her family—including children—to death. Having betrayed Otis "O2" Samuel for his share of a robbery, Meat now spends his days torturing and murdering residents lest they pay him protection money. Kidnapping O2's son, Meat intends to cut apart the young boy by machete unless O2 manages to pay him his hidden stash.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Otis and Coco's romance and sex scene with very little buildup and chemistry (all while Otis' son is held for random) could emit a chuckle or two from Heavy Rain players, which, depending on player choice, can happen to two of the player characters when they meet. Otis' use of Say My Name concerning his son JUNIOR! is also hilariously reminiscent of JASON!/SHAUN!
• Narm:
  • "Big Meat".
  • Otis beats up Coco's Domestic Abuser for hitting her, barking at him for "putting his hands on a woman". This coming from the same person who was chasing, manhandling, and pointing a gun in her face just a few minutes ago.
  • Otis and Coco falling in love in one day. The film is trying to be a homage to Bonnie and Clyde, perhaps too hard. They even have sex during a passionate moment. Keep in mind, Otis' son is being held for ransom while they do this.
  • Junior claims that he beat up a kid who picked on him at school in the softest, cutest voice ever. It's just generally unconvincing that a scrawny little kid like Junior would beat anybody up.
  • Otis' street name(s), "Oxygen" or "O2". He claims that he got the name "Oxygen" because he has a tendency to disappear after making an impact on different blocks he'd sell drugs on. Eventually, he became so notorious that they "upgraded" him to "O2". The thing is, the most common form of oxygen is O2, so it's not really an upgrade. Also, the idea of oxygen being used as a metaphor for something disappearing is a bit silly. There's also the fact that "O2" could've easily just been a Punny Name instead of this needlessly complex reason.
  • P-Money being a pimp.. but not really? He forces women to sell clothes on the streets and return the profits to him. It comes across like the original concept of the film had P-Money as a straight-up pimp but they decided to Bowdlerise for whatever reason, even though the film is already a gritty, R-rated crime drama.
• Strangled by the Red String: Otis and Coco's romance happens in about a day as they commit many heinous crimes together.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: It would've been interesting to see the aftermath of P-Money and Big Meat's gang rivalry.
• The Woobie: Junior. He is apparently picked on a bit in school, is visibly shaken by his father showing up late, and then gets kidnapped. Right when he's finally rescued in the hostage situation, he is very nearly shot and killed by one of Big Meat's henchmen, and witnesses a large-scale shootout (and who knows what he's witnessed in captivity). Finally, he is forced to leave the country with a woman he's never even met for Mexico. Assuming he's made any friends in school, he will probably never see them again.