Screenwriter/director Jirí Menzel translates this tale of a Czech waiter working through both the Nazi and communist regimes from a novel into an engaging, balletic comedy full of surrealist charm. Diminutive Jan Díte only wants to get laid, make money, and be the best server in the land. The world may be falling apart around him, but dining rooms and women are all that he sees. Athough it could have ended up a glib fancy, I Served the King of England is instead a profound statement on the extent of working-class autonomy, in which Menzel casts Díte's outlook as anything but the folly of youth.