Review: ‘The Ten’ puts bold spin on commandments

Directed by: David Wain

Starring: Paul Rudd, Famke Janssen, Gretchen Mol, Winona Ryder, Rob Corddry, Liev Schreiber

Rated: R

It’s hard to explain how one person’s “profound” might be another person’s “profane.”

The three Richard Pryor films featuring his stand-up comedy rank as the funniest, most philosophical things I’ve ever had the pleasure to see. But Eddie Murphy’s “Raw” seemed utterly gratuitous and vulgar.

My late mother saw “National Lampoon’s Animal House” when it came out and was completely shocked at how “gross and disgusting” it was. It grossed (in dollars, that is) $141.6 million in the United States when it was released in 1978. It has earned more than $70 million in domestic video rentals and was ranked No. 36 by the American Film Institute on the list of the “100 Funniest Films of All Time.” It’s safe to say – Mom’s opinion aside – that “Animal House” found a fairly mainstream audience.

It’s not surprising that David Wain’s “The Ten” actually made it to Springfield. The Moxie Cinema, which is showing “The Ten” through Tuesday, has filled the previous void for films like this for the past two years. But it’s amazing that the culture police haven’t reared their protest signs against it. It is an extremely dark comedy that many people will find entirely sacrilegious. Others will laugh, and I suspect many more will laugh all the while thinking, “This is so wrong.”

The title refers to the Ten Commandments, as given to Moses by God, and the film is a series of ten vignettes dealing with breaking these sacred laws. It’s not the first time someone has used this premise in cinema. It wasn’t a comedy, but the brilliant Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski did a series of 10 one-hour films for Polish television in 1988, each dealing with a commandment. It’s collectively known as “The Decalogue.”

“The Ten,” at just more than 90 minutes, is somewhat less ambitious than Kieslowski’s epic, but it covers a lot of ground and – depending on your tolerance (or lack thereof) – it’s a funny little film.

Paul Rudd is the narrator who appears before each “chapter” on a bare black stage with two giant stone tablets behind him. We discover he’s having trouble with his wife (played by Famke Janssen) and having an affair with hot-movie-babe-du-jour, Jessica Alba. Rudd and his lovers show up in chapter nine, the one about not committing adultery.

Many of the vignettes go in directions one wouldn’t expect from the sin involved. While “Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Goods” is somewhat straightforward – although the goods coveted are a CT scan machine – the entry with Winona Ryder, “Thou Shalt Not Steal,” is more obtuse. Ryder is to be commended for her bravery (and self-effacing humor) in accepting the role. Her brush with the law involving shoplifting was the last thing of note in which she starred. Here she steals a ventriloquist's dummy. She’s herself a ventriloquist and doesn’t want to sell the dummy to get money for drugs or anything. She loves it. Actually, lusts after it is more appropriate.

Commandment 10 is “Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Wife.” I need say nothing more than that this segment takes place in a prison, populated by males only. It’s hilarious, but the term substituted for “love” is one that most people will find shocking and offensive. It is definitely one of the aforementioned “This is so wrong” moments. Rob Corddry from “The Daily Show” stars in the segment and is simply too affable to be upsetting, no matter what he says.

Other chapters feature great performances by Liev Schreiber and Gretchen Mol. Mol’s sin is “taking the Lord’s name in vain,” but really, that’s the least of her worries.

“The Ten” isn’t for everyone. It will appall many and offend many more. Kevin Smith’s “Dogma” is much funnier in its exploration of Christian tenets; Kieslowski’s “The Decalogue” is a much more serious and well-made film. But if you have a healthy degree of cynical humor about you, “The Ten” is worth a look.

Just don’t take the kids, your grandma or a neighbor like Ned Flanders.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]