The Ten

Writer-director David Wain's The Ten is essentially an assortment of interlinked comedy sketches inspired by the biblical Ten Commandments, each of which are introduced by farcical narration from Paul Rudd. Apart from an occasional bright line and a few throwaway bits of business, the humor is both crass and juvenile, starting with Rudd's comments about his wife and mistress, and continuing with the lame title segments. The first is a one-joke piece about a guy who jumps from a plane without a parachute, and after ending up irremovably planted in the ground up to his waist, becomes a celebrity (and sitcom star), while the last tells the story of a husband who finds a very peculiar way to fill his Sunday mornings while his wife and son go off to church. Other pieces revolve around a mousy librarian on a vacation in Mexico who discovers love with none other than Jesus, and a doctor who leaves a pair of scissors inside a patient as a “goof.” Even with the high-octane cast—including Winona Ryder, Jessica Alba, Oliver Platt, and Liev Schreiber—The Ten is at best a five. Not recommended. (F. Swietek)