The Ten (imdb)
The Ten feels like a movie time forgot made by a pissed director to fill out his contract, wherein he spends the studio’s money freely to make a sloppy, pieced-together film full of sight gags and in-jokes that make him and his friends laugh but isn’t likely to ever achieve anything other than cult status. Of course, that isn’t the case here, but The State alums Ken Marino and David Wain (both of whom wrote and the latter of whom directed) have delivered a film packed with their friends and former co-stars whose main audience will be comedy nerds who will appreciate the appearances of familiar faces if not necessarily the experience itself. In addition to nearly the entire cast of The State appearing in either full or cameo roles, there’s Paul Rudd, Rob Corddry, Winona Ryder, A.D. Miles, Jon Benjamin, and even some actors generally known for more serious work. Unfortunately, an impressive cast does not a great movie make, as the script falls flat too often and the framing of the stories hosted by Paul Rudd never pays off or provides much in the way of laughs.
I don’t mean to be entirely harsh, particularly because there are some clever sequences and the film does manage to get better as it goes on. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that from the middle forward is where the film really shines since by that point the Paul Rudd interludes become less apparent and the stories begin to drift into one another. Working in the film’s favor as often as it does to its detriment is the film’s willingness to present an outrageous scenario, often dwelling on it for longer than it remains funny, and then ramping up the silliness by returning to it in a later sequence. Ultimately the film feels like a collection of long sketches that are rather balanced in their tendency to either be humorous or to fail to register anything more than a smile. Comedy nerds will probably find bits and pieces of The Ten to be enjoyable, but if you’re not already familiar with and appreciative of the shows populating the resumes of its cast (The State, Reno 911!, Stella), then it isn’t very likely to do much for you.
