# 10 Years (2011 film)
**10 Years** is a 2011 American ensemble comedy-drama film written and directed by Jamie Linden, following a group of friends on the night of their ten-year high school reunion who discover they still have some growing up to do.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1715873) • [2](https://watch.afi.com/movie/10-years) It stars [Channing Tatum](https://www.edgepedia.org/channing-tatum), Rosario Dawson, Justin Long, Kate Mara, Jenna Dewan, Chris Pratt, Oscar Isaac, Aubrey Plaza, and [Anthony Mackie](https://www.edgepedia.org/anthony-mackie), among others.[3](https://www.templehillent.com/films/10-years/) Completed in 2011, the film received a limited theatrical release in the United States on September 14, 2012, through Anchor Bay Films.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10_years)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Jamie Linden, in his directorial debut[2](https://watch.afi.com/movie/10-years) • [5](https://www.ocweekly.com/reeling-in-the-oughts-with-10-years-6423978/) |
| Release | Limited US theatrical release September 14, 2012; DVD and streaming December 18, 2012[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10_years) • [6](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/10-years) |
| Runtime and rating | 100 minutes, rated PG-13 for language, alcohol abuse, some sexual material, and drug use[6](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/10-years) |
| Producers | Marty Bowen, Reid Carolin, Wyck Godfrey, and Channing Tatum[7](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68963-10-YEARS) |
| Principal cast | Channing Tatum (Jake), Rosario Dawson (Mary), Justin Long (Marty), Kate Mara (Elise), Jenna Dewan (Jess), Chris Pratt (Cully), Oscar Isaac (Reeves)[3](https://www.templehillent.com/films/10-years/) • [8](https://www.netflixmovies.com/10-years-2011) |
| Box office | $201.1K gross in the United States[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10_years) |
| Critical scores | Metacritic 61/100 from 18 reviews; Rotten Tomatoes 58% from 55 reviews; IMDb 6.1/10 from about 29,000 votes[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/10-years/critic-reviews/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10_years) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1715873) |
| Setting | A ten-year reunion of Lake Howell High School classmates at a boutique hotel, shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico[5](https://www.ocweekly.com/reeling-in-the-oughts-with-10-years-6423978/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film takes place over a single night as roughly a dozen former classmates gather for their ten-year reunion at a local boutique hotel.[5](https://www.ocweekly.com/reeling-in-the-oughts-with-10-years-6423978/) Jake (Channing Tatum) arrives with his girlfriend Jess ([Jenna Dewan](https://www.edgepedia.org/jenna-dewan)), carrying a ring he has long intended for her, planning to propose, until he runs into his high school sweetheart Mary ([Rosario Dawson](https://www.edgepedia.org/rosario-dawson)) for the first time.[2](https://watch.afi.com/movie/10-years) • [8](https://www.netflixmovies.com/10-years-2011) He and Mary have not seen each other in eight years, and she arrives with her husband Paul ([Ron Livingston](https://www.edgepedia.org/ron-livingston)).[8](https://www.netflixmovies.com/10-years-2011)
Several other storylines run through the night. Cully ([Chris Pratt](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-pratt)), a jock who married his cheerleader girlfriend Sam ([Ari Graynor](https://www.edgepedia.org/ari-graynor)), attends hoping to apologize to the classmates he bullied in high school, but after too many drinks he reverts to his old behavior.[2](https://watch.afi.com/movie/10-years) Longtime rivals Marty ([Justin Long](https://www.edgepedia.org/justin-long)) and AJ (Max Minghella) spend the night trying to one-up each other to impress Anna (Lynn Collins), the coolest girl in their class, who now has a secret.[2](https://watch.afi.com/movie/10-years) • [10](https://film-forward.com/american/drama-american/10-years) Reeves (Oscar Isaac), now a well-known musician, remains too shy to approach Elise (Kate Mara), the quiet classmate who inspired his one hit song about an unrequited teenage crush; when Elise learns she was the song's inspiration, the revelation wins her over.[2](https://watch.afi.com/movie/10-years) • [11](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-sep-13-la-et-mn-10-years-20120914-story.html)
## Production
Channing Tatum was heavily involved in developing the project and produced it with his 33andOut Productions partner Reid Carolin, alongside Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey.[12](https://www.thewrap.com/channing-tatum-attend-ten-year-high-school-reunion-20436/) • [7](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68963-10-YEARS) Tatum's own ten-year high school reunion had taken place two years before the project was announced.[12](https://www.thewrap.com/channing-tatum-attend-ten-year-high-school-reunion-20436/) Before the feature existed, Tatum produced a short film called *Ten Year* in 2011, made specifically to attract the financing needed to get the movie made.[8](https://www.netflixmovies.com/10-years-2011)
It was the first film Linden directed, though his second collaboration with Tatum after writing the screenplay for 2010's *Dear John*; Linden had also written *We Are Marshall*.[5](https://www.ocweekly.com/reeling-in-the-oughts-with-10-years-6423978/) • [9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/10-years/critic-reviews/) The school name, Lake Howell, and most of the yearbook photos used in the film come from Jamie Linden's and actor [Scott Porter](https://www.edgepedia.org/scott-porter)'s junior year of high school; Porter, an old friend of Linden's, helped develop the script after the two attended their own ten-year reunion.[13](https://theromcomcatalog.com/movie/10-years-2011/) • [10](https://film-forward.com/american/drama-american/10-years) The film was shot in [Albuquerque, New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/albuquerque-new-mexico), where the cast stayed together in the boutique hotel that serves as the reunion's location in the film, although the city and state of the story are never specified.[5](https://www.ocweekly.com/reeling-in-the-oughts-with-10-years-6423978/) • [14](https://www.famousbirthdays.com/movies/10-years.html)
The production companies were Temple Hill Entertainment, Iron Horse Entertainment, Boss Media, and EG Productions, with Steven Fierberg as cinematographer, Jake Pushinsky as editor, and Chad Fischer composing the score.[7](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68963-10-YEARS)
## Reception
The film drew a generally lukewarm but non-negative critical response. Metacritic assigned a metascore of 61 based on 18 critic reviews, classified as generally favorable: 7 positive, 11 mixed, and none negative.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/10-years/critic-reviews/) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 58% Tomatometer from 55 reviews, with an audience Popcornmeter score of 40% from more than 10,000 ratings; the site's critics consensus calls it a sweet ensemble comedy that is well cast but predictable and short on three-dimensional characters.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10_years) IMDb users gave it 6.1 out of 10 from about 29,000 votes.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1715873)
Reviewers frequently compared it to earlier ensemble reunion films. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, whose 83 was the highest metascore of the 18 collected reviews, described it as a relaxed iteration of the "Big Chill/Return of the Secaucus 7" formula and a pleasing directorial debut for Linden.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/10-years/critic-reviews/) The Los Angeles Times called it a largely engaging class-reunion dramedy and "a very distant, slightly more youthful cousin to The Big Chill," while noting a lot of been-there, done-that in the material.[11](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-sep-13-la-et-mn-10-years-20120914-story.html) Common Sense Media found the film somewhat tepid overall but praised the chemistry between Tatum and Dawson as a former couple, criticizing instead the film's structure as discrete sections of uneven quality.[6](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/10-years) The Washington Post judged that the film neatly navigates around the potholes of the road-not-taken theme, and the Village Voice called it an uncommonly magnanimous project, kind to both its stumbling characters and audiences tired of films pruned of unruly emotions.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/10-years/critic-reviews/)
Despite the presence of a cast that included several future marquee names, the film's limited release produced a gross of only $201,100 in the United States.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10_years)
## Legacy
The film arrived as the high-school reunion itself was being declared a vanishing institution; a 2011 New York Times piece described reunions as deflated and old-fashioned in a social-media era that promised on-demand connection to anyone from one's past, yet the reunion has persisted in American life.[15](https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2025/09/high-school-reunion-attendance/684097/) *10 Years* fits within a small film tradition centered on the ten-year reunion, a narrative device that forces characters to return home and measure their lives against the hopes of their teenage selves.[16](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/117930/files/TESIS-2022-144.pdf) In retrospect, the cast is notable for careers that grew substantially afterward; audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes as late as 2025 remark on watching it "before so many became Marvel alumni," referring to cast members who later joined superhero franchises.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10_years)
## References
1. [10 Years (2011), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1715873)
2. [10 Years, American Film Institute](https://watch.afi.com/movie/10-years)
3. [10 Years, Temple Hill Entertainment](https://www.templehillent.com/films/10-years/)
4. [10 Years, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10_years)
5. [Reeling In the Oughts With '10 Years', OC Weekly (2012)](https://www.ocweekly.com/reeling-in-the-oughts-with-10-years-6423978/)
6. [10 Years – Parents' Guide & Movie Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/10-years)
7. [10 Years (2012), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68963-10-YEARS)
8. [10 Years (2011) on Netflix, NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/10-years-2011)
9. [10 Years critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/10-years/critic-reviews/)
10. [10 Years, Film-Forward](https://film-forward.com/american/drama-american/10-years)
11. [Movie review: '10 Years' a reunion worth attending, Los Angeles Times (2012)](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-sep-13-la-et-mn-10-years-20120914-story.html)
12. [Channing Tatum to Attend 'Ten Year' High School Reunion, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/channing-tatum-attend-ten-year-high-school-reunion-20436/)
13. [10 Years (2011), The Rom Com Catalog](https://theromcomcatalog.com/movie/10-years-2011/)
14. [10 Years – Cast, Ages, Trivia, Famous Birthdays](https://www.famousbirthdays.com/movies/10-years.html)
15. [What's the Point of a High-School Reunion?, The Atlantic (2025)](https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2025/09/high-school-reunion-attendance/684097/)
16. [Growing Up Is Hard to Do. The Emerging Adult Film, Andrea Sofía Regueira Martín (2022)](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/117930/files/TESIS-2022-144.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2011 to 2012 › Released in 2011*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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