Blu-ray Review: 10 Years

After watching Ted recently, my preparations for viewing 10 Years included getting a strong and sturdy plastic bag ready – just in case some of my dinner refused to stay in my stomach. But to my utter surprise, Jamie Linden managed to write/direct a 100-minute movie about a high school reunion without a single toilet joke, and no, it didn’t get boring at all, and yes, it was very entertaining. Scientific fact: miracles do happen.

The dread and excitement of high school reunions are well known. There is that need to show off a perfect life, but there is also the desperate desire to hide the mistakes and the failures no one should know about, the dreams that were never reached. There are always those old flames, as well as the high school popular kids who didn’t amount to much when real life hit them on the head. Add a mixture of alcohol and receding hairlines to this recipe, and you get what 10 Years is all about: very different people who went to school together – on an emotional rollercoaster of a night.

The Characters We All Know

Jake Bills (Channing Tatum) is a good guy who is head over heels with his lovely girlfriend (real-life wife Jenna Dewan Tatum); he keeps a ring nearby, waiting for that perfect moment to match her perfection. But he is still not entirely over his high school sweetheart (Rosario Dawson), who is enjoying a happy life of her own, but also has a few loose ends to tie with Jake.

Reeves (Oscar Isaac) is now a musician once in love with a girl no one remembers (Kate Mara), and it looks like his feelings are still there. Former bully and obnoxiously loud guy (Chris Pratt) is now a father and husband, trying to do the best he can, with embarrassing results for his perpetually mortified wife (Ari Graynor).

There is a clueless wife (Aubrey Plaza) who discovers her husband (Brian Geraghty, white as snow) was ‘Black’ back in high school (or ‘dark grey’, as he puts it), gets turned on by that discovery and immensely enjoys the dance floor moves her better half hasn’t lost yet (undoubtedly translated into bedroom moves later).

There are also a couple of friends, Marty (Justin Long) and AJ (Max Minghella), who chase former popular party girl Anna (Lynn Collins) all night, ending up toilet-papering her house, to unsuspected effects. We all know these guys: the one boasting he lives in the Big Apple and sleeps with supermodels; the other showing off pictures of him and The Boat; and the girl who is too cool and glamorous for this lame high school reunion. What reality is and what they try to pass on as reality are two different things, however, providing some funny and sad moments in this light but innocuous movie.

10 Years is a glance at the psychology of high school reunions, full of situations that are welcome resolutions for some characters, and a rare chance for closure necessary to take the next important steps in life.

Blu-ray

The Blu-ray disc from Anchor Bay Entertainment is letterboxed at 1.85:1 and contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer. The visuals are clear and sharp, the colors are vivid and true-to-life, with no alteration from the source material.

The Disc uses the standard Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track which provides clear intelligible dialogue, pleasant music sequences and solid sound effects.

The extras include six deleted scenes (nine minutes) which will be loved by fans of the movie.

Verdict: With the amazing cast playing familiar and lovable characters, 10 Years is a great departure from loud and stupid reunion movies. It’s a pleasant surprise.