¨Now the party can start!¨
The film is about a 10 year High School
reunion, and I know that the formula seems repeated and overdone but this film
felt fresh and original. The cast is great and they all share a good amount of
screen time. This film manages to deal with all the separate stories and
characters much better than other high budget films tried to (Valentine`s Day
and New Year`s Eve). I was interested in the different relationships between
these characters and was hooked from the beginning. I thought Channing Tatum
would be the lead character and that the story would focus around him, but it
actually doesn’t; everyone gets a decent amount of screen time. There is no
side story here, all the stories are equally relevant and have sufficient time
to find some sort of closure. 10 Years was written and directed by Jamie Linden
and this was his first film as a director. He had written the screenplays for
Dear John and We Are Marshall. Here he gets to work with Tatum once again, but
my favorite performance from this movie came from Oscar Isaac, who I really
liked in Drive. Drive was my favorite movie from 2011, and despite the fact
that Ryan Gosling carried that movie; I thought Isaac was absolutely perfect in
his role as well. The chemistry he shares here with Kate Mara is amazing, and
the song he performs at the karaoke bar was one of the highlights of the movie.
10 Years is not a laugh out comedy, but it has it`s funny moments. I felt like
it worked best as a sort of melancholic romantic drama. The actors were all
perfectly casted in my opinion and they each delivered. 10 Years was a lovely
and entertaining film.
As I mentioned before the story revolves around
a 10 year High School reunion. The first couple that`s introduced in the story
is Jake (Channing Tatum) and Jess (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) who have been dating over
three years. Jess is going to accompany Jake to his High School reunion. Before
going to the party they stop to meet up with Jake`s High School buddies Cully
(Chris Pratt) and Sam (Ari Graynor) who are happily married with two kids. Then
they also reunite with Marty (Justin Long) and AJ (Max Minghella), and with
Scott (Scott Porter) and Suki (Eiko Nijo) who are visiting from Japan. The last
one that meets up with them is Reeves (Oscar Isaac), the most successful person
from his class who has become a rock celebrity. Together they arrive at the
High school reunion and meet up with the rest of their classmates. Cully, who
was the class bully, is trying to redeem himself from his past and is looking
to make amends with all the nerds. Jake is surprised when he sees his ex-High School sweetheart, Mary (Rosario
Dawson) arrive with her hubby Paul (Ron Livingston). Apparently Jake and Mary
were pretty much a perfect couple during their teenage years. And then there`s
Elise (Kate Mara) who always played it low in High School, but who Reeves
remembers all too well as the girl who got away. There are several other
supporting characters who also contribute to the overall humor and heart of the
film like Garrity (Brian Geraghty), the ¨whigger¨ and his wife Olivia (Aubrey
Plaza) who had never heard of that side of Garrity.
There is no novelty or breakthrough in this
film. The story has been told before and we`ve seen the characters in other
movies. In a way 10 Years reminded me of an 80`s John Hughes movie. The film
really worked thanks to some great performances from the cast and an
emotionally gripping script. I was really hooked with some of the stories and
the way in which these characters interacted with each other. Despite the ten
years that had gone by, these characters still remained the same deep down
inside and some needed closure. I loved Isaac`s character and his song. His
story and the chemistry between him and Mara was pretty intense. Aubrey Plaza
really didn’t get much screen time, but I saw her as a leading lady in Safety
Not Guaranteed and there is no doubt she is really talented. Tatum got to act
beside his wife once again after first meeting her on the set of Step Up. There
was really a lot of chemistry between so many of these characters and they all
seemed like real life friends. This is an interesting directorial debut from
Jamie Linden and I hope more people get to see this good movie.
