# The Ten
*The Ten* is a 2007 American comedy anthology film directed by [David Wain](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-wain) and co-written by Wain and [Ken Marino](https://www.edgepedia.org/ken-marino), in which ten short stories, each loosely inspired by one of the [Ten Commandments](https://www.edgepedia.org/ten-commandments), are presented with overlapping characters and recurring comic motifs.[1](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-ten) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten) It was distributed by THINKFilm, opened in limited release on August 3, 2007, runs 95 minutes, and is rated R.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Directors and writers | Directed by David Wain; written by Wain and Ken Marino[1](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-ten) |
| Structure | Ten stories, each based on one of the Ten Commandments, tied together by a narrator with his own moral problems[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ten/details/) |
| Release | THINKFilm; limited theatrical release August 3, 2007; 95 minutes; rated R[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten) |
| Budget | $3.5 million, financed by investors, against roughly $60 million for a comparable Hollywood comedy[4](https://www.wired.com/2008/08/the-state-alum/) |
| Box office | $769,726 domestic, $785,528 worldwide; widest release 47 theaters[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3782575617/weekend/) |
| Critical reception | 35% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 82 reviews; a Metascore of 50 (mixed or average)[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ten/critic-reviews/) |
| Principal cast | Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, Jessica Alba, Adam Brody, Ken Marino, Famke Janssen, Justin Theroux, Gretchen Mol, Liev Schreiber, Rob Corddry, Bobby Cannavale, Oliver Platt[1](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-ten) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and structure
The film presents ten comic vignettes, each attached to one of the biblical commandments, with characters and themes that overlap across segments.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ten/details/) [Paul Rudd](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-rudd) serves as host, appearing on a black soundstage adorned with giant computer-generated tablets of stone; his character, Jeff Reigert, introduces the stories while also starring in a tale of adultery, and the framing narrative eventually folds him and [Famke Janssen](https://www.edgepedia.org/famke-janssen)'s character into the main body of the film.[7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-ten/) • [8](https://www.independent.com/2007/08/09/ten/)
Several segments received particular attention from critics. In the first story, a skydiver played by [Adam Brody](https://www.edgepedia.org/adam-brody) forgets his parachute, survives his landing embedded in the ground, and becomes a celebrity phenomenon, illustrating "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me."[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten) • [7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-ten/) Ken Marino plays a surgeon obsessed with pranks who leaves a scalpel inside a patient, killing her, and repeatedly explains that it was "just a goof."[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten) • [7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-ten/) [Gretchen Mol](https://www.edgepedia.org/gretchen-mol) plays a 35-year-old virgin whose Mexican vacation romance with a hunky carpenter named Jesus Christ, played by [Justin Theroux](https://www.edgepedia.org/justin-theroux), illustrates "Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain."[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ten/critic-reviews/) Winona Ryder appears in the "Thou shalt not steal" segment, in which her character begins a relationship with a ventriloquist's dummy.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten) • [7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-ten/) One segment, "Thou shall not tell a lie," was realized as an animated piece titled *Lying Rhino*, created by Augenblick Studios under animation director Aaron Augenblick.[9](https://www.augenblickstudios.com/the-ten)
Wain described the commandments as a structural device rather than a moral argument. He told the *New York Observer* that the filmmakers "just thought the Ten Commandments were a great thing to hang a bunch of stories on," and said the film was far from a commentary on the role of religion in the world.[10](https://observer.com/2007/07/sweet-fancy-moses-wet-hot-american-summer-director-thumps-bible/amp/) In a 2007 interview he said that he and Marino "got together and plotted to write something that was funny and silly and had no huge point," and that the commandments offered a good structure for that.[11](https://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2007/09/07/david-wain-on-comedy/)
## Production
Wain said the project took "like a nine or ten year process" from conception to screen.[12](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/18604-exclusive-three-of-the-ten) For the writing itself, he drew on a file of ideas he had randomly written down over the preceding ten years.[13](https://podscan.fm/podcasts/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/episodes/david-wain) The film was made independently, without a major studio: Wain contrasted its $3.5 million investor-financed budget with the roughly $60 million cost of a Hollywood comedy like *Step Brothers*, and with the $1 million budget of his earlier *Wet Hot American Summer*.[4](https://www.wired.com/2008/08/the-state-alum/)
The cast drew heavily on Wain's circle. Wain and Marino came out of The State, an early-1990s MTV sketch comedy troupe with 18 members, many of whom appear in the film alongside screen actors such as [Jessica Alba](https://www.edgepedia.org/jessica-alba) and [Liev Schreiber](https://www.edgepedia.org/liev-schreiber).[7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-ten/) • [4](https://www.wired.com/2008/08/the-state-alum/)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed and divided. The film scored 35% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, with a critics consensus that the uneven and random tone caused it to fall apart despite some humorous sketches.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten) On Metacritic it received a Metascore of 50, with 7 positive, 11 mixed, and 4 negative reviews among 22 counted.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ten/critic-reviews/) Reviewers who responded positively included Owen Gleiberman of *Entertainment Weekly*, who called it "devious and inspired enough to juice you past any weak spots," and Nathan Rabin of *The A.V. Club*, who found the early skits explosively funny and predicted cult fame for the project.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ten/critic-reviews/) Time Out gave it 3 out of 5 stars, judging that some of the minimovies were sharper than others and that a few performers were not quite clued in.[1](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-ten)
Commercially, the film earned $121,374 in its opening weekend in 25 theaters and ran through October 4, 2007, finishing with $769,726 domestically and $785,528 worldwide.[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3782575617/weekend/)
## Comparison with The Decalogue
Several critics compared the film to *The Decalogue* (*Dekalog*), the 1989 ten-part Polish television series by [Krzysztof Kieślowski](https://www.edgepedia.org/krzysztof-kieslowski) that addressed the commandments in as many episodes.[8](https://www.independent.com/2007/08/09/ten/) The Santa Barbara Independent framed *The Ten* as "something similar, but completely different" from Kieślowski's considered masterpiece.[8](https://www.independent.com/2007/08/09/ten/) The critic Nick Schager, writing in Slant Magazine, called the two works tonally divergent but noted shared parallels, including a belief in the commandments as bedrocks of human experience and in their interconnected relationship to one another.[7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-ten/) A review at NotComing.com argued that both works consider the iterative nature of the commandments, which must be taken as a whole with their individual components clarifying each other.[14](https://www.notcoming.com/reviews/theten/) A theological survey likewise groups the two, noting that both use the Ten Commandments as a structure for ten smaller stories.[15](https://www.palparkchurch.org/GTS/TenCommandmentsE.pdf)
## Aftermath
Wain followed the film with *Role Models*, his first big studio movie, co-written with Marino and Paul Rudd for Universal; he described that project as a mainstream comedy told through a David Wain lens.[4](https://www.wired.com/2008/08/the-state-alum/) • [16](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/49830-excl-david-wain-from-wainy-days-to-role-model) In a later interview he counted the collaborative writing retreat that produced *The Ten* as the first of three such sessions, the second producing *Wanderlust*.[13](https://podscan.fm/podcasts/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/episodes/david-wain)
## References
1. [The Ten review, Time Out New York (Joshua Rothkopf, August 1, 2007)](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-ten)
2. [The Ten, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007947-ten)
3. [The Ten details, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ten/details/)
4. [David Wain Moves From Wainy Days to Role Models, WIRED (August 2008)](https://www.wired.com/2008/08/the-state-alum/)
5. [The Ten, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3782575617/weekend/)
6. [The Ten critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ten/critic-reviews/)
7. [Review: The Ten, Slant Magazine (Nick Schager, June 14, 2007)](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-ten/)
8. [The Ten, The Santa Barbara Independent (August 9, 2007)](https://www.independent.com/2007/08/09/ten/)
9. [The Ten, Augenblick Studios](https://www.augenblickstudios.com/the-ten)
10. [Sweet Fancy Moses! Wet Hot American Summer Director Thumps Bible, New York Observer (July 2007)](https://observer.com/2007/07/sweet-fancy-moses-wet-hot-american-summer-director-thumps-bible/amp/)
11. [David Wain on comedy and Commandments, The Badger Herald (September 7, 2007)](https://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2007/09/07/david-wain-on-comedy/)
12. [Exclusive: Three of The Ten!, ComingSoon.net (January 29, 2007)](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/18604-exclusive-three-of-the-ten)
13. [David Wain, Bullseye with Jesse Thorn (podcast episode)](https://podscan.fm/podcasts/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/episodes/david-wain)
14. [The Ten review, NotComing.com (Rumsey Taylor, March 14, 2007)](https://www.notcoming.com/reviews/theten/)
15. [The Ten Commandments, Goahead Theological Seminary & College course text](https://www.palparkchurch.org/GTS/TenCommandmentsE.pdf)
16. [EXCL: David Wain, From Wainy Days to Role Model, ComingSoon.net (2008)](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/49830-excl-david-wain-from-wainy-days-to-role-model)
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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 2007 to 2008 › Released in 2007*
*Initially written Oct 3, 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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