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J-Skell’s Back With A Review Of THE TEN!
Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
Oh, it irritates me that I’ve missed all the LA press screenings of this one so far. This is the sort of stuff I want to see from the various alumni of THE STATE, not silly mainstream family stuff. I like the premise of this, a comic DECALOGUE, and I’m looking forward to it.
In the meantime, our man J-Skell’s back from a bit of a break with this review...
Hey Drew, J-Skell here.
It's been awhile but the Man's been keeping me down. Really. Onto more important things...
In the glorious dawning era of Apatow, it is still always nice to be reminded that there is another group of talented comedians who work together in the same fraternal way. Yes, I'm talking about the members of The State (which never broke up by the way). Since the end of the brilliant and brief MTV sketch show, they've all traveled on to do other projects (Viva Variety, WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER, Reno 911, Stella) but kept together pieces of their group in various fashions. In that time they've managed to slowly adopt a few Hollywood figures into their fold, like the wonderfully omnipresent Paul Rudd, an adoptive key member of the Apatow company as well. This may mean they're ready for a new level of success, which comes of the heels of the semi-successful release of the RENO 911 MOVIE and in a few weeks with the release of THE TEN.
To be fair, THE TEN is really the combined product of writer/director David Wain and writer/star Ken Marino. But it definitely harkens back to their reality shifting/logic reversal/tangential nature that was The State's signature. THE TEN is really just ten sketches woven together and all are loosely based on the ten commandments. I mean very loosely based. I pretty much forgot by end of each sketch what they were about in the first place. But that didn't really matter. Cause in the end this film succeeds.
On the whole, I don't think it's quite as good as WET HOT, as some of the jokes and moments fall a little flat. But that's also part of what makes their style work in the first place. They take wild narrative and character turns, while constantly sacrificing the reality of a given moment for a joke. It's perfect lead age humor, originated in the Marx Brothers and very similar to today's work by Adam McKay. With that, Wain and Marino are never afraid to fall on their face and I appreciate that. They're doing what they think is funny, and even with the jokes I didn't laugh at, there was always someone in the theater who was. Or better yet vice versa.
But there really is a lot about the film that does succeed. Actors in these projects only seem to work when they commit fully to the sensibility. Trust me, it's definitely not as simple as it seems and it takes guts to do that. Winona Ryder is hilarious in her second sketch that revolves the theft of a wooden dummy. Live (fuck Microsoft word for not letting me spell your name right. Fuck it to hell.) Schreiber and Joe La Triglio absolutely nail a deceptively simple sketch about competing fathers. Rudd is his usual self, dependable and so gosh darn adorable. They also get big huge monumental points for having Jessica Alba actually be funny. Sure it's a very small part. But it's kind of an actual character, not just Jessica Alba saying words.
Of course what helps make the movie work is that all 11 members of The State are there too. It's their sensibility and they know what makes it tick and something as simple as the brief appearance of Michael Showalter reminds you that you're in The State universe and eases your mind. But writer/star Ken Marino is the perfect example of the movie's own dichotomy. His first sketch is basically a repeat gag that I never found that funny. His second sketch is hands down the best thing about the film. I know what you're thinking, prison rape as romance, we've seen that before. But this was on a completely different plane. Marino and Rob Corddry commit to their passion on a truly heartbreaking level, where if they weren't saying the words "I want to be the one who's anally raping you" it would be akin to the beauty of Brokeback Mountain, both in its quality and honesty. It's completely and utterly brilliant.
With that, throw in some STD drug cartoon, a woman fucking Jesus, a woman fucking a dummy, a woman fucking Arsenio Hall, a man fucking Diane Weist, and naked assholes at the end (the actual holes not the people) and you're in for a good time.
Enjoy!
Your resident Cholo dressed up for Easter,
J-Skell
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Here too!!! I'm on a roll!
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The 11th.
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You are supposed to unleash your barrage of news when I ARRIVE at work, not a half hour before I leave it for the weekend. That said, the trailer for this flick sold me. Looks good.
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God, I miss The State.
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Isn't that a line from Marino's DIGGERS?
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..is this a horror film?
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and on a side note, isn't Paul Rudd the guy you are most jealous of in the WORLD? gets to act in all these great fucking movies, improvising all over the place, hot wife, plenty of money. and he can still get acting gigs in serious movies as well.fuck him straight to hell.
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don't get me wrong I hated friends, but he ended up as a major part of that huge ass sitcom too. He's covered like every base.
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from Knocked Up... Just my favorite line as of the moment.
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i saw a screening of this in boston and it's pretty hilarious!
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And for anyone who doesn't get that reference. Seriously, that looks so frakin retarded. I want to punch that movie in the face.
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how many years has it been? 9?
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At the time, I was a little let down by it, though I did love a few of the segments, especially the Liev Schreiber/Joe La Triglio bit which I thought was brilliant. But I can't wait to see this again because like Wet Hot, I really think it might get better with repeated viewings. Some of the bits that I didn't love when I saw it, I still think about and have convinced myself that they were a lot funnier than I remembered. Nice review, sir.
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