10 Years

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.

¨Now the party can start!¨

The film is about a 10 year High School reunion, and I know that the formula seems repeated and overdone but this film felt fresh and original. The cast is great and they all share a good amount of screen time. This film manages to deal with all the separate stories and characters much better than other high budget films tried to (Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve). I was interested in the different relationships between these characters and was hooked from the beginning. I thought Channing Tatum would be the lead character and that the story would focus around him, but it actually doesn't; everyone gets a decent amount of screen time. There is no side story here, all the stories are equally relevant and have sufficient time to find some sort of closure. 10 Years was written and directed by Jamie Linden and this was his first film as a director. He had written the screenplays for Dear John and We Are Marshall. Here he gets to work with Tatum once again, but my favorite performance from this movie came from Oscar Isaac, who I really liked in Drive. Drive was my favorite movie from 2011, and despite the fact that Ryan Gosling carried that movie; I thought Isaac was absolutely perfect in his role as well. The chemistry he shares here with Kate Mara is amazing, and the song he performs at the karaoke bar was one of the highlights of the movie. 10 Years is not a laugh out comedy, but it has it's funny moments. I felt like it worked best as a sort of melancholic romantic drama. The actors were all perfectly casted in my opinion and they each delivered. 10 Years was a lovely and entertaining film.

As I mentioned before the story revolves around a 10 year High School reunion. The first couple that's introduced in the story is Jake (Channing Tatum) and Jess (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) who have been dating over three years. Jess is going to accompany Jake to his High School reunion. Before going to the party they stop to meet up with Jake's High School buddies Cully (Chris Pratt) and Sam (Ari Graynor) who are happily married with two kids. Then they also reunite with Marty (Justin long) and AJ (Max Minghella), and with Scott (Scott Porter) and Suki (Eiko Nijo) who are visiting from Japan. The last one that meets up with them is Reeves (Oscar Isaac), the most successful person from his class who has become a rock celebrity. Together they arrive at the High school reunion and meet up with the rest of their classmates. Cully, who was the class bully, is trying to redeem himself from his past and is looking to make amends with all the nerds. Jake is surprised when he sees his ex-High School sweetheart, Mary (Rosario Dawson) arrive with her hubby Paul (Ron Livingston). Apparently Jake and Mary were pretty much a perfect couple during their teenage years. And then there's Elise (Kate Mara) who always played it low in High School, but who Reeves remembers all too well as the girl who got away. There are several other supporting characters who also contribute to the overall humor and heart of the film like Garrity (Brian Geraghty), the ¨whigger¨ and his wife Olivia (Aubrey Plaza) who had never heard of that side of Garrity.

There is no novelty or breakthrough in this film. The story has been told before and we've seen the characters in other movies. In a way 10 Years reminded me of an 80's John Hughes movie. The film really worked thanks to some great performances from the cast and an emotionally gripping script. I was really hooked with some of the stories and the way in which these characters interacted with each other. Despite the ten years that had gone by, these characters still remained the same deep down inside and some needed closure. I loved Isaac's character and his song. His story and the chemistry between him and Mara was pretty intense. Aubrey Plaza really didn't get much screen time, but I saw her as a leading lady in Safety Not Guaranteed and there is no doubt she is really talented. Tatum got to act beside his wife once again after first meeting her on the set of Step Up. There was really a lot of chemistry between so many of these characters and they all seemed like real life friends. This is an interesting directorial debut from Jamie Linden and I hope more people get to see this good movie.

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This was my third time watching 10 Years and it's grown on me each time. I've seen the Big Chill and other movies this gets compared to a lot and this is a decent update on the concept for a newer generation.

Each actor/actress does a great job of playing adults filled with imposter syndrome and regret except for Tokyo dude who is 100% there to show how people can simply grow and change and be optimistic. He's kind of the anti-theme to the movie which I would is, "what would have happened if?"

These characters are constantly self reflecting and do a great job of this through facial expressions vs tons of unnatural dialogue. You can feel the nostalgia of smoking a joint in the car with your three best buds, you can feel the butterflies in your stomach when your old high school sweetheart unexpectedly walks into the scene, and you can 100% feel all of the tension that stills lingers within various relationships.

I honestly thought everyone nailed their part and didn't get distracted by all the stories. Reviewers seem to be mad at the lack of character arcs coming to completion but this whole thing takes place in like 12 hours realtime. It's also very clear that the point of the movie is a lot of people have a hard time growing up thus why there aren't a lot of "revelations" at the end of this.

It's got real dazed and confused vibes, you're along for the ride. This isn't some complex study of human behavior by Stanley Kubrik, it's a high school reunion film by a first time director.

'10 Years' is all about reunion of high school class to celebrate their 10 years graduation from school. At first the film shows normally high school reunion should be and seems nothing special from it. It's like watching daily people do at their reunion party like telling how have changed they are, what they've earned in life and introducing their husband or wife to old friends. But the movie flows smoothly and definitely doesn't try to be dumb or ridiculous like 'American Reunion' did. They make audience interested to see it until the best part at climax of the movie. It ends with a sweet and wonderful way which makes this movie so special. Overall, '10 Years' is not just an ordinary drama movie about people's reunion. Inside it there is a compelling story and Jamie Linden as director just put the ending in the right place. Also the characters here have same portion and not focus in only one or two main problems. For me, '10 Years' is great and could be one of the most remarkable romantic comedy movie in recent memory.