movie review/ discussion of 10 Years

10 Years
Director: Jamie Linden
Starring: Channing Tatum, Justin Long, Rosario Dawson,
Chris Pratt, Jenna Dewan-Tatum

10 Years is a small independent movie about the a group of high school friends getting back together for their high school reunion. It is that one nigh to look back on old memories and also realize if you are still the person you where back in high school or if you have really grown up.

The film acquired such a huge cast of recognizable faces that it can be hard to name everyone without getting into a long boring list but I will highlight as many as I can with some of the major subplots. The story seems to revolve loosely around Channing Tatum's character Jake who has come back with his girlfriend, played by his real life wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum, to see old friends. The one shock to his system is to see his high school sweetheart Mary, portrayed by Rosario Dawson.  Chris Pratt is plays a former jock and bully who decides to apologize to people at the reunion while in drunken stupor, much to the chagrin of his wife. Justin Long and Max Minghella are the class clowns that have risen above their former status. Finally there is Oscar Isaac who went off and back a well known musician and returns to this reunion only to see his friends as well as reconnect with the loner classmate that many people forgot.
Now that I have spelled out a lot of the movie for you I can tell you what I thought about it. All the actors did really well in their roles. Many of the characters are very low key people which makes them easy to relate to in the situations that they are in. This successful portrayal of human interaction is all thanks to writer/director Jamie Linden. Linden isn't a Hollywood heavy hitter but he worked on the screenplays as well as co-produced the films We Are Marshall and Dear John. With this being his directorial debut he does a nice job. There is room for improvement on future projects that Linden may create, like having a film that has a more condensed.

I even though I like the film there is not much reason to go run out and spend $10 on a ticket in the movie theater, if it is released near you. It is best to wait until the film is on Netflix or in a Red Box near you.

Fun Facts
 It appears that this may have been his labor of love project since he put a lot of personal elements into the script. At the screening that I went to last night it was revealed that Linden is a Central Florida native that graduated from Lake Howell High School and went to Florida State University. In the film he named his gave the high school that all the characters went to Lake Howell included the name of local bar that only exists in Orlando but he thought was a chain.