10 Items or Less

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Independent

After going through all the usual big-budget summer blockbusters, it’s nice to hang back and see a quiet “independent” movie. That’s what “10 Items or Less” is. If there ever was a departure from the typical Hollywood fare, this would be it.

Directed by Brad Silberling, the movie tells the story of a once-popular Hollywood actor (never identified by name but played by veteran actor Morgan Freeman) who is researching for his next possible part. While at the local community market, he meets feisty checkout girl Scarlet (Paz Vega). She runs the “10 items or less” counter and, in effect, runs the market more than the store manager does. Freeman is fascinated by Scarlet’s personality and learns that she’s up for a job interview later in the day. When he can’t seem to find a way to get home, he instead volunteers to help her prepare for her interview. What follows is a humorous take on what might happen in the span of one day between two strangers, something that could quite possibly happen as unlikely as the situation may be.

This was a fun yet different approach from the many movies that we are usually exposed to from the U.S. Freeman, now often cast in venerable roles as either a high government official, an army leader, a police investigator, or even as God, seems to really enjoy playing the has-been actor who is slowly trying to get back in the game. After four years of being out of work, Freeman the character sees his DVDs with Ashley Judd being sold at 50% off in the bargain section of the supermarket. I couldn’t help but feel that Freeman the actor was able to relax a bit more in this portrayal and he looked relaxed in the scenes where he’s at the community market, at the car wash, and shopping in Target.

After seeing Vega as the struggling Spanish-speaking single mom in “Spanglish”, it’s nice to see her play an even more assertive type of character here. Though there are times when it is difficult to understand what she’s saying, her performance still comes across as genuine, as someone who knows and feels she is better than what life has given her. This is a beautiful woman who comes across as someone who wants her acting to be taken seriously, as evidenced by the roles she has taken.

As fun as this movie was, I also couldn’t help but feel that it was a bit incomplete, if not rushed. In the scenes where Freeman has Scarlet’s car washed and where they are teaching each other songs, it almost feels like an extended music video. It also made me feel like they were trying to stretch the film to make it run close to one and a half hours. As it stands, the movie runs at one hour and 22 minutes, an unusually short film that’s even shorter than most animated films released nowadays.

Still, if you should ever find the desire for a change or a healthy replacement from the loud and oftentimes inconsequential films from Hollywood, this little movie might just be the film for you.