The Ten

Director David Wain of "The State" and Wet Hot American Summer fame is the sort of comedy filmmaker who seems to be working primarily to make his best stoner buddies laugh at his jokes. The Ten is an unabashedly stupid and random comedy that turns each of the 10 commandments into a goofy vignette none of which really relates much to the other and only about half of which are truly funny. And it's all bundled together with an odd Woody Allen parody that has Paul Rudd introducing fables, feuding with Famke Janssen, flirting with Jessica Alba, and divorcing Dianne Wiest all within the film's brief 90 minute runtime. Go figure.

I wanted to like this movie much more than I actually did. It's pure nuttiness is charming in ways, but it's too much in love with its own somewhat exclusive sense of knowingly juvenile humor to carry beyond its niche audience. It takes a certain kind of person to find Wain and Co. funny and if you are that sort of person, this might be the highlight of your summer. If you're not, be prepare to cringe and be bored and giggle once or twice at the absurd goofiness. It's hit or miss from start to finish with the highlights including a torrid love affair between Grechen Mol and Jesus ("Thou Shall Not Take The Lord's Name In Vain") and a race between Liev Schrieber and his next door neighbor to be the owner of the most CAT scan machines in the neighborhood ("Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Possessions"). Co-writer Ken Marino also gets some mileage out of an inept doctor character who leaves surgical scissors in a patient "as a goof." Parts of the movie are actually very funny, but too much of it is laughless stupidity to really make it worth your time in the end. Bits and pieces offer silly fun, but elsewhere it's like a long haul through an evening with some very drunken buddies who find Rhino poop hilarious (cartoon rhino poop to be specific).

Grade: C+