A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Whole Ten Yards

Date of original theatrical release: 2004

Details:

Bruce Willis

Matthew Perry

Amanda Peet

Kevin Pollak

Natasha Henstridge

Director: Howard Deutch

Score: -

The Review: On beyond dumb, this sequel to The Whole Nine Yards is so broadly farcical that you can see neither the forest nor the trees. A good (though dark) prequel has, in effect, been ruined by association with an awful follow-up.

Essentially "...what happened after four years...", Ten Yards has a Bruce Willis look-alike who's so far off his rocker that he's a Martha Stewart wannabe -- he must be a look-alike, because even Willis could not have been persuaded to waste his time like this -- Amanda Peet nearly at the bottom of her form (see Whipped if you want to sample rock bottom, as well as her bottom), and the rest of the carryover cast slumming in the gutter.

Whereas Nine Yards was darkly humorous with a decidedly odd attitude, Ten Yards crosses the most inane of the Three Stooges with something dreadful, and lets the action (such as it is) play out virtually without plot or script, as if this were assembled ad hoc during filming. Listening (very briefly) to the DVD commentary by the scriptwriter and the director -- I can understand why none of the cast wanted to be involved further and are missing from this track -- delivers such stunning insights, and makes it clear that there's an even worse way of wasting time than watching Ten Yards: it's watching Ten Yards with the commentary track turned on.

Avoid at all costs.

(24-Apr-05)

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