Film Review: 10 Years

About the film

10 Years is a comedy film that was released in 2011. The film has a run time of 100 minutes and is rated 12.

Plot

Jake and his girlfriend Jess arrive at the home of one of Jake’s high school friends and his wife. Soon, more and more old friends begin to arrive, ready for their 10 year reunion. Best friends Marty and AJ are in the group, as well as musician Reeves and Scott and his wide Suki. The group of friends are really looking forward to catching up and seeing what everyone else has turned out like but Jake is the only one breathing a huge sigh of relief as his high school sweetheart isn’t going to be there.

As the night gets going, the group get reacquainted with old pals and realise they may not have been the best people in high school. As some attendees have brought with them their wives, girlfriends etc, they begin to show their true colours and revert back to their teenage ways. Each character has something to prove at this reunion but will it all go to plan?

Cast

Channing Tatum as Jake Bills

Justin Long as Marty Burn

Kate Mara as Elise

Chris Pratt as Cully

Scott Porter as Scott

Brian Geraghty as Garrity Liamsworth

Max Minghella as AJ

Anthony Mackie as Andre Irine

Lynn Collins as Anna

Rosario Dawson as Mary

Oscar Isaac as Reeves

Nick Zano as Nick Vanillo

Jenna Dewan as Jess

What I thought

I’ll always give a film a go if it has Channing Tatum in it (because I’m a sucker for him!) and when I saw this one for only £3 in Sainsbury’s, I knew I had to have it.

10 Years starts with Jake and Jess heading off to Jake’s high school reunion. They’re a couple and Jess doesn’t really know much of Jake’s high school friends, nor his past with ex-girlfriend Mary. Luckily, Mary has said she won’t be attending the reunion so Jake can breathe a bit easier. Playing Jake and Jess are Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum, real husband and wife couple. Considering these two are together in real life, and had acted together previously in Step Up, I expected the chemistry between the two to be much better. However, what we actually get is quite stiff conversation and chemistry which is extremely lacking. I was very disappointed.

As the film is set around a high school reunion and groups of friends getting back together and reminiscing, the plot focuses on the comedic characters they once were. The plot really doesn’t have much of an actual story to it though and that made me lose interest really quickly. Okay, each character has their own problems but none of them are big enough, or important enough, to make me really care. Not only were the issues not big enough, but the characters mostly came across as really shallow, superficial or just idiots. Not only did 10 Years not have a great plot but the characters could have been so much better and had much more depth, but they didn’t.

However, although the characters and the plot were a lot down, there were one or two redeeming moments in this film. Justin Long was a great addition to the cast as he never seems to do a bad job in films. Long plays Marty, someone who has been very successful since high school but he also has secrets. Long manages to pull off successful and nice all in one go and he was one of the few characters I did care about a little bit. Also, there are some really funny moments throughout the film. The humour in this film is very much what you would expect from a teen film and aimed at those who like gross humour and crass jokes. These kinds of comedic moments gave the film a light feel to it and also makes it a really easy film to watch.

10 Years really isn’t the best film out there and even Channing Tatum and some funny moments couldn’t make me love it.