The Ten

FLICK Director David Wain was inspired to make a comedy version of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "The Decalogue", a 10-hour miniseries about the Ten Commandments. Thank God this version is only 93 minutes. And even that may be a bit too long. There are no morality tales here as slapstick devolves into silliness and never gives us anything involving. How invested can we get when we see the adulterous Winona Ryder leave her husband on their wedding night to have an affair---with a marionette? When Adam Brody goes skydiving and neglects to wear a parachute, he lives (!) his remaining days in a field, permanently stuck in the ground. He becomes a national treasure and a strange god when his situation propels him to become the hot star of a sitcom. Paul Rudd would be perfect as he introduces each segment if it weren't for the constant interuptions by side characters moving the focus away from the central themes. The intention of many segments seem good enough, (look what they're adapted from!) but they are played out so implausibly and veer so far off into absurdity that there is little to create a good belly laugh. And isn't that what we really want from the Ten Commandments? Screened at the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival. (In attendance were director David Wain, producer Jonathan Stern and a most personable Paul Rudd.) My Score: 4.5 out of Ten.