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The Ten Reviewed by Rich Drees
I mention this not as a preamble to an argument that the comedy The Ten – an anthology of ten sketches based on the similarly numbered Commandments – contains some deep, universal truth hidden within its laughs. Far from it. Except for one sequence, The Ten sin’t really about religion at all and the Ten Commandments are just a hook to hang some particularly funny sketches on.
Our tour guide through The Ten is Jeff (Paul Rudd), whose marital trouble will eventually overspill the narrative framework into its own segment. Along the way, we meet the likes of two neighbors carrying the premise of “Keeping up with the Joneses” to ridiculous extremes, a doctor whose practical jokes land him in hot water, a mousy librarian whose vacation lover reveals a surprising identity and two young black men who learn that their biological father may just be a certain Austrian-accented California governor.
Writer/director David Wain first came to prominence in the mid-1990s as a member of the comedy group The State on their eponymously titled M-TV sketch series. Many of Wain’s State cast mates have joined him for the film, particularly Ken Marino, who co-authored the screenplay. In addition, Wain has recruited some surprising faces to fill out the cast and Wain deserves a certain amount of admiration for securing Winona Ryder for the “Thou Shalt Not Steal” segment.
Directorially, The Ten shows a much steadier hand over Wain’s debut feature, the 2001 summer camp comedy Wet Hot American Summer. While some of The Ten’s sketches hew more closely to their respective commandments than others, they are all consistently funny. The occasional joke may misfire, but they do so at such a low rate as to be forgivable. The style of comedy here – a blend of slapstick, irreverence and absurdism that was the hallmark of the State’s M-TV series – may not be to everyone’s tastes, but for those who do enjoy that sort of comic sensibility, they will find The Ten sinfully funny. |
With the rise
of political correctness over the last two decades, dramatic films
that deal with controversial aspects of religion have been met with
resistance, but not as much as the very infrequent comedies about
religion have. Perhaps its because a drama can inherently claim in
people’s minds a higher artistic intent than the lowly,
just-in-it-for-laughs comedy. Scorsese’s controversial Last
Temptation Of Christ can be argued as a study of Jesus’ state of
mind while on the crucifix while a film like Monty Python’s
Meaning Of Life is often attacked by those who feel that it
simply mocks the life of Christ.