Debbie Schlussel: Weekend Box Office: Dull, Low-Budget Morgan Freeman Pic
The only new release, this week, that I screened is a low-budget, indie film, "10 Items or Less," starring Morgan Freeman.
It was okay, but mostly dull. It did not pass the Schlussel sleep test. Viewing it, I fell asleep . . . twice. I really have nothing against the film. It's just that it's boring, and there really was no point in making it. Watching it will not enhance your life. I normally like Freeman. He's a very talented actor, but that doesn't make much difference in a pointless ennui-pinata of a film, as this one is.
It's the story of a has-been movie star (Freeman) who is doing research at a supermarket in a run down L.A. neighborhood for a possible film. He meets a Hispanic check-out girl (who "mans" the "10 Items or Less" lane) and befriends her. Freeman's character, whose last action movie is marked down at every store they go to, tells her that everything is in "the staging" and that he'll help her get the job for which she's about to interview.
They go around L.A. to her trailer to get her car, to Target to get her some clothes, to the car wash to spiff up her car, etc.--all in pursuit of a job interview for her for a better job. They become friends. So what? No reason to care about these people (she is apparently an illegal alien) or care about their jaunts to dull places to do errands we all do on a daily basis. Simply not interesting.
Hum. Drum. zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Posted by Debbie on December 1, 2006 04:17 PM to Debbie Schlussel