Ten, The

"The Ten" is a hysterical feature length film intertwining ten sketches, each depicting the ten commandments. David Wain and Ken Marino have teamed up to bring to the screen, a motion picture that revamps the commandments into terms young, hip audience members can interpret.

The film is told from the point of view of Jeff Reigert (Paul Rudd), who struggles with his own dilemma which has him facing a seemingly impossible choice involving the decision between his gorgeous wife and his also extremely beautiful young mistress. He presents the ten sketches which include the following:

1) A man who becomes an accident hero after
falling out of an airplane.
2) A librarian who has a sexual awakening
involving a Mexican local.
3) A doctor who offs his parents as a goof.
4) A detective who covets his neighbor's cat
scan machine.
5) A mother who enlist a Schwarzenegger
impersonator to be a father figure to her
children.
6) A prisoner who coveys his fellow inmate's
wife.
7) A rhinoceros that learns how to gossip.
8) A loving husband who gets naked with his
like minded friends to listen to Roberta Flack
when he should be at church with his family.
9) A woman who falls in love and steals a
ventriloquist dummy.

Then of course, the tenth involves our main character who presents the sketches all the while struggling with sinful issues of his own. Each piece is vastly compelling and deeply moving, humorous and dramatic. Classifying this film under one particular genre would be irrelevant.

We've seen this formula used before with poor presentation, but the crew behind "The Ten" has done a magnificent job in interconnecting the material in such a way that it still feels like we're watching a film rather than a theater production that would have most likely bored us all to tears.

The biggest complaint I have comes with the organization. Though the segments are true to the commandments by which their based upon, a couple of them seem a bit farfetched and just plain unrealistic. Fortunately, there's ten here, so a couple isn't saying much.

On a more positive note, what a great ensemble of talent, most some of the more popular up and coming stars with promising futures ahead of them. A project like this can only boost their chances of being successful. It's not often an actor is given the opportunity of appearing in such a unique piece of work.

Though following along can be somewhat of a task, it's damn well worth it. There are moments where the viewer just can't keep themselves from laughing. The dialogue, the actors, the imagery, it's just one greatly executed piece of work that should not be missed!