The Ten

REVIEW
The Ten is a hilariously archaic, scandalous, offensive and raucous take on Moses’s tablets, way less Charlton Heston and much more Monty Python’s Life of Brian. An omnibus, The Ten was written and directed by David Wain (“The State,” “Stella” and Wet Hot American Summer) and features a bevy of stars determined to do damage to their careers. Its structure is Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex meets Kentucky Fried Movie — ten skits are strung together by an initially genial host, Jeff (Paul Rudd). Rudd does his best introducing each segment but is continually sidetracked with arguments with his wife, Gretchen (Famke Janssen), and eventually his flings with both Jessica Alba and Dianne Wiest. Each vignette tackles one of the commandments. Whether it is worshipping false gods (a young man jumps out of a plane without his parachute and survives but is permanently embedded halfway into the ground — attracting media attention and religious zealots); coveting a neighbor’s wife (in a scene set in an all-male prison); or taking the Lord’s name in vain (with Gretchen Mol as a sexually pent-up virgin having a fling in Mexico with Jesus). There is a nude musical number, Winona Ryder in love with a ventriloquist dummy and a jaw-dropping animated sequence by Aaron Augenblick about a rhino and crackheads. Rude, crude and hilarious (although never going for easy blasphemy jokes) – you’ve been warned!