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The Ten

Anyone who’s been to summer camp will tell you that Wet Hot American Summer is one of the funniest movies ever made. Others will at least agree that it’s up there. So when a new movie called The Ten came out in 2007, sporting the same director, you’d think fans would line up to see it. But I remember when it came out, especially how it faded away without much of a word from anyone. It received mixed reviews, most considered it mediocre.

Anyway, don’t expect The Ten to live up to the brilliance of Wet Hot. It won’t. Not many comedies can, in my opinion. It does, however, have the same silly and stupid humor that director David Wain prides himself in creating. David Wain is a former cast member of the MTV show, The State, and one third of the comedy troupe, Stella, which also includes State veterans Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter. Other members of The State went on to form the cast of Reno 911. Anyway, you can expect The Ten to live up to the legacy of Stella. In The Ten, just as in Stella, the jokes are hit or miss, and usually hilariously stupid. An example of the type of humor that permeates this film:

Louis LaFonda, the News Anchor, introduces his show with a dramatic reading of the line, “What does a monkey have in common with a Fig Newton? Nothing, right? Think again … they’re both sometimes brown.”

This kind of randomness permeates The Ten. Its premise is delightfully simple: Paul Rudd’s character, Jeff Reigert, presents the Ten Commandments, one story to correlate with each commandment. Sometimes you wonder how Wain possibly derived these insane stories from these simple biblical laws. The stories are absolutely ridiculous, and they are usually unrelated, but tied together by recurring characters. For “Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Wife,” for example, a prison inmate, played by Rob Corrdry, covets another inmate’s “bitch,” played by Ken Marino (who also co-wrote the script). Ken Marino’s character is a doctor that left a pair of surgical scissors in the stomach of his patient as “a goof,” receiving a life sentence (“Thou Shall Not Murder”). In the film, ventriloquist dummies are seduced, a woman experiences a sexual awakening in Mexico with Jesus Christ, and songs are sung about Marino’s stretched-out anus. It’s easy to see why this film could not have been mainstream. It’s the silliest movie in the world. Sometimes it’s completely irreverent, offensive, and disgusting. I found it hilarious.

If you are familiar with David Wain and his sense of humor, you know exactly what to expect. If you are a fan of this humor, you will enjoy this film. If you are looking for a sophisticated comedy, you are looking in the wrong place. But thou shall not judgeth a film based on what it isn’t … so, I wholeheartedly recommend.

P.S. Co-stars include Winona Ryder, Liev Schreiber, Adam Brody, Famke Janssen, Oliver Platt, and Jessica Alba.

Written by: Sam Belkin

Reviewers Rating: 7
Reader's Rating: 6.00
Reader's Votes: 1

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