The odd pair routine is given a class-divide makeover in 10 Items or Less .
The odd pair routine is given a class-divide makeover in 10 Items or Less .
The odd pair routine is given a class-divide makeover in 10 Items or Less .
The odd pair routine is given a class-divide makeover in 10 Items or Less .

10 Items or Less

DVD review Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega share an easy warmth that sees the film through some of its more laboured moments.

Tracey Lazos

August 11, 2008

  • English
  • Arabic

Morgan Freeman is clearly not shooting for Shawshank-style gravitas in 10 Items or Less, an extremely minor independent film that lasted only a few weeks in theatres. But even when he's basically playing himself in a movie so slight it almost floats away, his charms (and that voice) are such that he can't help but make it more than it is. Freeman plays a past-his-prime actor who meets a slightly militant, sassy/sexy cashier (Paz Vega) when he comes to her supermarket to do research for his new film. Naturally, the odd pair end up spending the day together. He helps boost her confidence by applying his Hollywood wisdom to her "audition" (ie, job interview); she helps him reclaim his mojo and shows him how the, er, other half live ("This is amazing!" he exclaims. "It's? Target," she replies incredulously). In fact, it is here that things take a turn for the unsettling. Even Freeman can't do much with stale jabs at the class divide. But he and Vega share an easy warmth that sees the film through some of its more laboured moments. The DVD features a chat between the director and his star that is marginally more enlightening than the usual PR schlock.

FilmArt