Film
Ten-acious Winona Ryder and a dummy
THE TEN A cross between Dekalog and The Meaning of Life, though without the poignant curiosity of the former or the anarchic fury of the latter, The Ten is a star-studded, half-baked, take-it-or-leave-it “goof” on The Ten Commandments—in the parlance of co-writer Ken Marino’s surgeon, who’s keen on leaving instruments inside his patients’ bodies because it makes him giggle. (He’s the “thou shalt not kill” commandment, natch.) It’s divided into skits pasted together by host Paul Rudd, whose monologues are interrupted by his wife (Famke Janssen) and lover (Jessica Alba), and it features recurring characters (played by the likes of Winona Ryder, co-writer Marino, Rob Corddry, Liev Schreiber and others) who glide in and out of sketches like partygoers in search of someone more interesting to talk to. As it was made by David Wain and Marino—the men what brung you Wet Hot American Summer, a film whose sole ambition was to remake Meatballs—it ain’t all that interested in theological discussions, merely eliciting a few giggles as it travels down a darkly comic trail in need of a burning bush (unless you count the prison sequence full of male-rape as knee-slappers). The Ten doesn’t want you to ponder the existence of God or the rights and wrongs laid out by His master plan, just to laugh. And you will more often than not—which is all you can hope for in what might as well be a prolonged episode of The State, from which several of the cast and creators sprang. —Robert Wilonsky (Opens Friday at the Belcourt)
MY BEST FRIEND Light, airy, and sweet, Patrice Leconte’s latest comedy swings his favorite premise—fruitful encounters between opposites—away from romance and into the wistful hunger for friendship in a careerist world. Daniel Auteuil slyly tweaks his easy geniality into a subtle form of heedlessness as François, an ambiguously successful antiques dealer who treats everyone around him with the same chilly dispassion he brings to his pursuit of objets d’art. When his business partner (Julie Gayet) challenges him to a pricey bet that he can’t come up with a true friend in 10 days, he finds himself stumped for buddies until he meets his opposite, Bruno (the adorable Dany Boon), a sociable cab driver and collector of Panini stickers who gives François free tuition in how to be loyal and sympathique. The lesson backfires, and their rocky friendship is tested in an uproarious and tender climax on the set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, where Bruno captures France’s heart just by being a nervous wreck. Leconte embraces sentimentality with the wisdom of a seasoned man and the goofy, light heart of a teenager, but he’s never glib or condescending, and his mastery of tone makes this delightful farce a nutty feel-gooder about the difference between a friend and a contact. In French with English subtitles. —Ella Taylor (Opens Friday at Green Hills)
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