The Ten | DVD Review

The Ten is less a movie than a feature length sketch-comedy show–no surprise as writer/ director, David Wain and ten out of eleven actors and contributors from his early to mid-nineties MTV series, The State are involved in this production. Aside from the Wain and co. regulars, The Ten boasts an outstanding cast of all stars–including Winona Ryder, Liev Schreiber, Rob Cordry and Oliver Platt.

Paul Rudd introduces ten stories each based on one of the biblical commandments, while he illustrates adultery by cheating on his wife (Famke Jannsen) with a younger woman (Jessica Alba). Some of these skits have their comedic moments–Winona Ryder having sex with a ventriloquist’s puppet or Rob Cordry as a love-struck prison rapist, and some are just confusing–Gretchen Moll falling in love with a Mexican who turns out to be Jesus, or Liev Schreiber’s hard-boiled cop character coveting his neighbour’s cat-scan machine.

You can count on absolute absurdity and a ridiculous non-sequitur brand of comedy–if that’s your thing, the picture might work for you. Think of it as a glossier, less-clever, more crude version of Mr. Show with big name actors. Which brings me to wonder how all these names became attached to this project–the stellar cast might have something to do with the film making it as a Sundance selection and perhaps existing even at all; but it seems a curious decision to partake in what must have clearly appeared to be such a hit-and-miss script, and, subsequently a film which doesn’t always land on target.

For fans of the movie, the special features will be a delight:

An audio Commentary with David Wain, Ken Marino and Paul Rudd: Joining Wain, Marino and Rudd are Wain’s parents is quite thorough, honest and humorous, with loads of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and typically bizarre, often funny remarks.

There are an additional sixteen scenes, over 55 minutes long–a lot of them blooper reels and an introduction by Wain, Marino and Rudd. Once again, if you are a fan–this is basically an hour of the film extended, if not–there’s nothing you’ll see here that will change your opinion for the better.

The interview with David Wain, Ken Marino and Paul Rudd at the South by South Southwest Film Festival is short and in no way insightful. They simply blurt out silly comments which don’t have much to do with the film at all.

Wainy Days: Episode 1 is the first episode of Wain’s online show featured on MyDamnChannel.com. If you’re interested, the rest of the show is available.

Also included is a brief making-of featurette involving cast and crew generally goofing around–it looks like they enjoyed themselves on this set.

A silly, absurd piece of sketch comedy, with hit-and-miss moments of humor, The Ten would have been better suited to television.

Movie rating – 3

Disc Rating – 4.5