10 Jahre - Zauber eines Wiedersehens

Director/writer Jamie Linden gives us a big ensemble cast on their 10 year high school reunion.

Jake (Channing Tatum) was the prom king. He is with his girlfriend Jess (Jenna Dewan-Tatum). But he encounters his old girlfriend Mary (Rosario Dawson) and they have issues to resolve.

Cully (Chris Pratt) was a douche bully. He is still only a few drinks away from the same douche even though he is a married to his cheerleader girlfriend Sam (Ari Graynor) and a father.

Marty (Justin Long) and A.J. (Max Minghella) are still trying to up one another, and they go head over heals for class hottie Anna (Lynn Collins).

Reeves (Oscar Isaac) was a band geek, but is now a star with a hit song. He finally has a chance with his crush, the class ghost Elise (Kate Mara).

Yeah, that's a lot of good actors and way too many characters. And that's not really all of them. Somebody needs to trim down the number of lead characters. The Big Chill had 8 leads, and that is probably the limit. This one had either 11 or 12 depending on how you count.

The stories are fairly standard. It's got that profound idealism that you'd expect. Everybody has something big to do. If they lose 1 storyline, the rest could be expanded and have a little air to breathe. It's still a good watch.

High school reunions can be equal parts helpful to ones current life position and poisonous all the same for one specific reason and that is it gives them or their new significant other insight as to who they were and what they did during their four years in school. Reunions can be a fond look back on the naive days of adolescence, when you're in that very awkward position where you're not a child or an adult, yet you hopefully begin to act like and conduct yourself as one. Or they could be places where the reminder you receive about your past is an extremely embarrassing one that could potentially corrupt current personal feelings or even have the one you married walking out on you.

Some of these issues are touched on in writer/director Jamie Linden's 10 Years, a sweet and tender examination of several characters attending their ten year high school reunion. Headlining the picture here is Channing Tatum, in a relaxed, comfortable role, playing a man who has grown up to be quite successful with a beautiful wife (Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Tatum's real life wife) who attends his reunion to meet with her husband's old friends. HHe quickly meets Rosario Dawson, a gorgeous, now married woman, who he has fond memories of in high school, and proceeds to talk to her for the night.

Justin Long assumes a more outgoing, rambunctious role than usual, but no one here has quite the persona as Chris Pratt's character, an obnoxious man, who now must spend the reunion making amends with those he shamelessly bullied to get a laugh in high school. Other smaller side characters include the now pop singer Oscar Isaac and the goofy, but frequently funny Anthony Mackie, providing us with a melting pot of different talents at hand here, all of which given their own time to shine.

10 Years functions in one of the strangest ways any film this year has. It fluctuates between dull and uninteresting to beautifully entertaining. It may be similar to a real high school reunion, where you occasionally meet people you really like and others you can't tolerate. At times, I was very invested in these characters because it appears Linden gave sensitive thought and development to these characters and how they've gone through life in their own unique ways, while at other times, I was restless and hoping for something more compelling and perhaps immersing.

The cast is unanimously capable here, as they all juggle roles they've never been fully exposed to. Tatum, Long, Dawson, and Mackie provide well nuanced performances here that are likely to go under the radar by those who walk into 10 Years hoping for something a little like the ribald and unapologetic American Reunion. Entering with that mindset will be fatal on your behalf. This picture is to be appreciated in a totally different, more sensitive light than an American Pie picture.

Starring: Channing Tatum, Justin Long, Kate Mara, Chris Pratt, Scott Porter, Brian Geraghty, Anthony Mackie, Rosario Dawson, Oscar Isaac, Lynn Collins, Max Minghella, Juliet Lopez, Aaron Yoo, and Kelly Noonan. Directed by: Jamie Linden.

In his directorial debut "Ten Year", Jamie Linden (writer/producer of "We Are Marshall") introduces us to an extensive cast of characters as they make preparations to attend Howell Secondary School's Ten Year reunion. The film opens with a light and humorous air, as we meet the usual suspects in a film about life post-highschool: The grown up jock (Chris Pratt) who hopes to make amends for swirlies of the past; the nerd who broke out of his shell (Justin Long), made it big in the real world, and plans to conquer women who once spurned him; the rockstar (Oscar Isaac) who never really found happiness in fame; and of course, the one that got away (Rosario Dawson). There are a litany of supporting characters, most of whom contribute not only to making the film genuinely hilarious, but also support the bigger themes at play in a big way.

The film is largely predictable, and the characters all feel like they fit nicely into role's that have been hashed out in films of the past. A film like this lives or dies based on the strength of the script and the actors that bring it to the screen. Thankfully, the performances given by the substantial cast breathe life into the film, and for the most part we're laughing and crying right along with them.

Ultimately, despite being a little tired and predictable, Ten Year feels like a high-school reunion for the cast of a John Hughes movie. If you loved John Hughes' seminal high-school coming-of-age flicks, you should do well with Ten Year - a film aiming to remind us that coming-of-age continues well after graduation.

Before I watched this movie, I read some reviews and was on the fence about watching it as most of the reviews were not overly positive, average at best. Well boy are they all wrong IMO!' This movie was such an amazing movie about one night in the life of a bunch of people attending their 10 year high school reunion. Most of us can relate to a lot of the scenes in the movie which makes the movie that much better. I think it was really well written, well acted and offered everything you can ask for. I won't get into too much detail in what the movie is about, but I can tell you that as I began watching it, it did a really great job in slowly reeling me in and about a quarter of the way through, had me hooked to the end! Brilliant little flick and it had a great e ding I might add. Do yourself a favour, don't pay attention to the naysayers and give this movie a chance, you will enjoy it!

This movie was fun but parts where very predictable. I enjoyed that the movie showed the lives of these characters without necessarily trying to "fix" them. Many movies have recently tried to have a happy ending for all involved and in life that's actually not the case. The actors where picked well for their roles. The downfall is the depth of the characters. While, I got the total picture, and during the scenes could feel the emotions for each person involved, such as the awkward scenes being convincingly awkward and the happy scenes genuinely making me happy. In the end I didn't care what happens next. I probably would not buy this movie, unless it was on a super sale and would only leave it on t.v. if nothing else was on....