10 Items or Less Reviews and Ratings


  • theloneowl
    November 15, 2009
    theloneowl
    Un filmettino adorabile in cui Morgan Freeman fa Morgan Freeman.
    Peccato per il finale, che pretendevo diverso ç_ç
  • fluturash
    October 2, 2009
    fluturash
    it wasn't a bad movie, i just wasn't impressed. a good story nice actors, a bit boring here and there.
  • jasonvargo
    September 29, 2009
    jasonvargo
    The first film in history to be released via internet download while playing in theaters, 10 Items or Less strives for an indie-quirk attitude, yet loses it within the first twenty minutes of the production. For the next hour, it is a rumination on the differences between the wor...( read more)king and upper classes. It's too bad the interplay Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega display in the grocery store early on is moved outside that establishment later in the film; the down and out market is a wondrous place filled with rich possibilities for dark humor.

    And there's the problem: this movie is billed as a comedy when it really isn't. Sure, watching Freeman as an out of work actor watch Vega's Scarlet go about her rudimentary cashier job doesn't sound funny, though it is his wide eyed disbelief over her menial tasks which makes the sequence a pleasure to watch. (Not to mention director Silberling allows the actors to act in unbroken takes throughout the film.) An entire film could have been made inside the market, centering on the people there and Freeman's reactions to each of them. Truthfully, that's where the movie should have been set, not in car washes and interviews, trailer parks or car hoods.

    However, the finished product is what we're given. 10 Items or Less turns into each of them teaching the other something important about life. Scarlet, stuck in a dead in job with a dead end husband, brings Freeman back to earth, walking him through a world he has never known. For his part, Freeman is happy go lucky, without a seeming care in the world...a lesson he imparts on Scarlet. She is perpetually negative, finding reasons not to do the things she should be doing. Take a job interview. The pair go into Target-a wonder for Freeman-where he "puts her together," casting her in the role of an office manager. He's soft and delicate with his young ward, pushing her to think of herself in a positive light. But it's dreadfully boring.

    Freeman and Vega develop an easy rapport in 82 minutes, inhabiting both their characters fully. Considering they are are the leads and only actors with any appreciable screen time, the relative success of the production rests squarely on them. Silberling's direction is functional, considering the film was shot in 15 days on a "nothing" budget. His greatest achievement is knowing when to allow the scene to continue uninterrupted, making this truly an actors film. Despite the acting and directing, it's the script which lets us down in the end. Too indie, too high minded, too art house.
  • casagrande
    September 25, 2009
    casagrande
    O título em português é o pior possível, mas a ideia do filme é muito interessante. Apesar do enredo ser um pouco confuso.
  • FunctioningOnImpatience
    September 23, 2009
    FunctioningOnImpatience
    Pretty entertaining movie, but then again, anything with Morgan Freeman is pretty good
  • rimkflay
    September 23, 2009
    rimkflay
    Add a review (optional)...
  • ristrawn
    September 2, 2009
    ristrawn
    people come into your life for a reason - look for it when in doubt...
  • mvieaddict
    August 26, 2009
    mvieaddict
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic for strong language

    10 Items or less was a waist of time, specially if you were expecting a good movie. No story line and no plot, ...( read more)and a low budget movie.
    I wanted to see this movie for Morgan Freeman, as he is a good actor. The movie started with Morgan Freeman acting funny in a supermarket. There was no action and really, there was no value added in this movie.
    This movie was totally a waste of my time.and I still can't understand why an actor as Freeman can agree to accept a role in a movie like this.
    (maybe he needed to pay some debts?)
  • samanthaseaotter
    August 6, 2009
    samanthaseaotter
    Very sweet and cute fantasy. As always, Morgan Freeman is completely adorable. Heartwarming.
  • CxxOgdenxxSince91
    July 28, 2009
    CxxOgdenxxSince91
    morgan freeman was pretty good
  • tsw
    July 12, 2009
    tsw
    Penélope Cruz has got a new rival, with an equally annoying accent.
  • romy861
    July 6, 2009
    romy861
    Really enjoyed this one. Little film full of quirky, interesting characters. Runs out of steam a little in the last half hour, but still very enjoyable. Anne Dudek must actively search out awful, unlikeable characters (that's not a critisism, she really pulls it off well. My ...( read more)husband literally cringes whenever he sees her in something). Paz Vega and Morgan Freeman are both excellent in this film which is ultimately about finding the courage to change your life.
  • jschartrand
    June 19, 2009
    jschartrand
    Beautifully act, written and directed help by the charm and the complicity between his two lead.
  • wudrich
    June 11, 2009
    wudrich
    Very fun movie. Definitely a rental.
  • Redlats
    June 5, 2009
    Redlats
    I only watched it for half the movie. I found it boring. I like both Paz Vega and Morgan Freeman, but I found the content lacking. It is pretty bad when the best part of the movie is Morgan Freeman walking lock-step with the store manager.
  • jfish4466
    May 23, 2009
    jfish4466
    This movie was interesting but having said that you have to be in the mood for a lot of dialogue. This movie is character driven and there is no action to speak of. Morgan Freeman was excellent in this film. I love Paz Vega and she is the reason that I watched this movie. I wish ...( read more)they would use her in more films. There is a lot of cursing in this film so you would have to watch it when the kids are not around.
  • ripperisgod
    April 30, 2009
    ripperisgod
    I have seen a lot of movies and this one has got a cast that is perfect in every way.
  • rajiv23gooners
    April 26, 2009
    rajiv23gooners
    sweet little movie, very refreshing, i love this sort of comedy.,
    i also love the freeman-vega's chemistry.,
    and paz vega, damn man, hot as hell !!
  • Li9uidFire
    April 13, 2009
    Li9uidFire
    Funny and makes you think
  • Soundsofmadness
    March 28, 2009
    Soundsofmadness
    No thankyou - Not interested
  • neagamb
    March 25, 2009
    neagamb
    freeman's genius simplicity and vega's latino innocence...very tastefull...
    ...worth discovering, and it can be discovered by each person who watches it, no matter how many reviews are read, no matter how many friends see it and recommend it. It's just that kind of movie
  • puteri98
    March 22, 2009
    puteri98
    Definitely a must seen movie!!
    So honor to watch Mr. Freeman played as himself, so simple and humble...Bravo! Trully a GREAT actor! A BIG actor should do what he has done..Play in an indie movie...Salute to Silberling. Brilliant movie! Standing ovation..
  • regenial
    January 22, 2009
    regenial
    wow...Morgan Freeman, can it get better!?
  • michael03264
    January 16, 2009
    michael03264
    a new favorite for. Funny
  • ArTsyChiCa
    January 10, 2009
    ArTsyChiCa
    quirky. Paz Vega plays a very different/hillarious role.
  • thedude2111
    December 25, 2008
    thedude2111
    Odd film in a creative kind of way.
  • djmas3
    November 28, 2008
    djmas3
    Unexpectantly enjoyable.
  • yuvak
    November 16, 2008
    yuvak
    I saw this one, only for morgan.
  • Keaven
    November 15, 2008
    Keaven
    Not the best role for Morgan Freeman. He was a little unconvincing in this strange film.

    Thanks for the recommendation; Brian.
  • RemiLogan
    November 9, 2008
    RemiLogan
    Strange movie, but sweet
  • EarthlyAlien
    November 8, 2008
    EarthlyAlien
    "The director is so young he hasn't even been born yet."

    Actors playing themselves or, at least, versions of their personas is always an interesting experiment. Usually it's a way to playfully mock their public image and nothing more, unless you're M. Night Shyamalan who ...( read more)actually plays an actor playing a part who is pretty much his God-like image of himself. Albert Brooks is always Brooks-ish but always keeps his name. William Shatner was the object of two Star Trek fans platonic hang-out fantasy. Now it's Morgan Freeman's turn, an actor who doesn't really have much of a public persona other than being just a seriously great actor. That fact helps making Brad Silberling's interesting social experiment such a charmer in the truest sense of the term by getting to watch Freeman break out, be a little goofy and have a lot of fun alongside one of the most beautiful and exciting actresses working today.

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    An actor who looks and sounds just like Morgan Freeman is being driven out to a little supermarket in California to research a role he "hasn't committed to" yet. He hasn't worked in four years and is constantly hounded by the driver connected to the film ( Jonah Hill, funny as always) to delight him with the familiar pipes which have become almost as synonymous with voice-overs as James Earl Jones. He even mistakes his voice for that on an audio-book. The store itself is a large hole on the Earth, with just a couple cashiers on duty and a manager (the legend Kumar Pallana) barely left with a single faculty.

    The unnamed actor checks out the place but finds himself, as anyone would, drawn to the woman handling the 10-items-or-less line. Her name is Scarlet (Paz Vega) and she takes her position most seriously even if she hates it. After a full shift, where the actor tries to have as much fun trapped within a discount outlet since Frank Whaley in Career Opportunities, he's left stranded and turns to Scarlet who agrees to get him home after she completes all her errands for the day. One of them just happens to be a job interview for a secretarial job and the actor jumps at the chance to repay her by preparing her through the motions of a true Film star.

    The superficial notion of a rich, Hollywood celebrity helping a barely middle class minority should be struck from your mind instantly as there's not an ounce of condescension dripping from its intentions. At first, the parody of Freeman's image and career, including the video boxes with Ashley Judd (for a made-up thriller) haunting his every move, is pure comedic bliss. Watching him discover the joys of sock-shopping at Target or assisting the workers at a car wash are wonderful bits of self-mockery, celebrity overindulgence and comic zeal I can't ever remember Freeman being given the opportunity to digest.

    Silberling's screenplay though, contains some beautiful exchanges between the pair that strip down the fantasy of the situation and becomes just two non-labelled people with real conversation to share. Their instructions to name ten things or less they couldn't live without have the flair of a James L. Brooks or Cameron Crowe and help us relate to them as more than just a gimmick.

    Paz Vega, who absolutely lit up the screen in her American debut (Brooks' Spanglish), conveys both the spunk and the weariness of someone just trying to get through each day without screaming. Thankfully, Silberling doesn't fall into the trap of dressing her down, substituting mousiness as the metaphor for breaking through. She's beautiful, but a real beauty unmanufactured. Vega and Silberling create Scarlet as a whole; a doer not about to cry "poor me" for the cards she's been dealt or to succumb to some cheap romance to solve all her problems.

    10 Items or Less may be Silberling's look at the way that celebrities and the public support each other. One does their job to provide pleasures to millions while their fans look up to them and try to follow their lead whether it be in fashion or whatever inspiration they find in their work. Its presentation is lightweight but in a good way. This is no vanity project for Freeman or some excuse to temporarily escape studio tent poles (where Silberling himself has flourished with Casper and Lemony Snicket's).

    There's a genuineness to the film from front-to-back, headlined by the authenticity of Freeman and Vega's performances which carry a breezy, improv-like momentum while never succumbing to making the story all about them. In under 75 minutes, there may be just enough to fill a list of ten things you enjoy about the film, but you will be tempted to go to eleven if you consider the delight itself of watching Paz Vega on screen. Quite a charming film.
  • alinizinha
    October 26, 2008
    alinizinha
    Bem sessão da tarde, mas é bom de ver.
  • Quartermilestang
    October 11, 2008
    Quartermilestang
    Not too much happens but somewhat interesting anyway and Morgan Freeman is cool as always.
  • tammilhunter
    October 7, 2008
    tammilhunter
    I enjoyed this very much. Morgan Freeman is the best.
  • MichelleasaurusRex
    October 4, 2008
    MichelleasaurusRex
    Great movie. Very short and interesting. I was like surprised to hear Morgan Freeman curse but it made him seem cool. Fun to watch.
  • bhobbs1985
    October 3, 2008
    bhobbs1985
    A slow paced movie featuring a dryed up actor who befriends a low-income latino woman. The movie does not have much of a storyline, yet somehow it connects to the auidence through sheer reality. I think what makes this film so good is the idea that it is reality - and while the a...( read more)ctor in this film remembers what it's like before a big acting career came along - the lady benefits by realizing what else might be out there. Two characters weigh there situations and find a mutual medium between each other. It's a simplistic but interesting and relaxing movie nonetheless.
  • SirGenius
    October 2, 2008
    SirGenius
    This was just a great movie
  • jannar85
    September 27, 2008
    jannar85
    A little philiosophical film. A liked Morgan as always :)
  • CooperCraigM
    September 21, 2008
    CooperCraigM
    I love Morgan Freeman -- he's always exceptional in whatever role he portrays... this one obviously came very naturally and he delivered a strong performance with relative ease. And, Paz Vega is really a delight -- she just seems so genuine and really comes across well on screen...( read more). The two of them together were very charming, and this film was strangely enjoyable. Off-beat, and quirky, but not quirky simply for the sake of being so, this film rolls along nicely, keeping the viewer enthralled and entertained with its steady, but subdued pace. Clocking in at just over an hour, it's certainly worth a quick watch to observe some great character acting.
  • solith88
    September 21, 2008
    solith88
    Interesting, sweet. Annoying ending
  • bookokie
    September 19, 2008
    bookokie
    Great pairing. Morgan Freeman was wonderful.
  • samithehunk
    September 15, 2008
    samithehunk
    It would have been a nothing movie had there been no Morgan Freeman in it. a few decent memorable lines and good work by Freemna. Paz Vega looks cute and has a cuter accent.
  • bocahdablek
    September 7, 2008
    bocahdablek
    a very meaningful story. good movie.
  • Upinthecosmos
    August 5, 2008
    Upinthecosmos
    I wanna work at the 10 items or less isle and be just like Scarlet with the customers!! Too dang funny!
  • jclantz
    August 2, 2008
    jclantz
    Hmm, sounds interesting.

Summary

10 Items or Less Summary