The film tells ten stories, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments. With each story told in a different style, but containing overlapping characters and themes, the film is a grand burlesque boasting an all-star cast that puts the sin back in cinema.
16 February 1970, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
9 December 1935, USA
4 August 1937, Willimantic, Connecticut, USA
4 February 1971, Weymouth, Massachusetts, USA
11 June 1960, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
20 January 1970, Westport, Connecticut, USA
12 April 1959, Tehran, Iran
5 November 1963, Arlington, Virginia, USA
10 March 1971, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
29 October 1971, Winona, Minnesota, USA
14 September 1970, Cookeville, Tennessee, USA
22 August 1976, Allendale, New Jersey, USA
10 August 1971, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
8 November 1972, Deep River, Connecticut, USA
29 August 1978, USA
12 January 1960, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
2 December 1970, Ozone Park, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
July 24, 2009
The beyond-goofy collection of Commandment-inspired vignettes has funny moments, but it's a wildly uneven anthology, with three or four clunkers for every genuine chuckle.
August 23, 2007
Thou shalt be funny. Thou, in this case, isn't.
August 17, 2007
By flaunting its own stupidity, The Ten practically dares you not to laugh at it, like a stand-up comic who sells an unfunny joke through the ferocity of his delivery.
January 15, 2008
...brings to mind the fondly remembered Kentucky Fried Movie/Amazon Women on the Moon anthos from the '70s and '80s.
August 17, 2007
Perhaps the Bible needs an 11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Bore. That might stem misfires such as The Ten.
September 22, 2007
Most of the segments are as clueless about their designated commandment as they are about what's supposed to be funny.
September 14, 2007
Some bits... are shockingly funny. Others, like the surgeon who causes a woman's death "as a goof," are just shocking without the funny.
January 11, 2008
A blasphemous parody so painful to sit through it seems designed by the Almighty as punishment for heathens and sinners.
April 22, 2008
Rudd, whose wry deadpan proved indispensable in Judd Apatow comedies like 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin' and 'Knocked Up,' is used here mostly as a straight man, the host in charge of introducing stories that drift along without any real destination.
September 13, 2007
Three of the comic segments in The Ten are sort of funny. Three others are just so-so. And the remaining four are just dumb, painfully unfunny and/or downright crude.
August 30, 2007
Those worried about incurring God's wrath by seeing The Ten, don't concern yourselves -- by watching the film, you've suffered enough.
August 17, 2007
If there were Ten Commandments for filmmaking, one would certainly be: Thou shalt not pass off sketch comedy as a feature film, especially when charging $9 a ticket.
