Playful, light, warm--Brad Silberling (Moonlight Mile, Lemony Snicket) had a good idea when he decided to make the low-budget, low-concept 10 Items or Less. He cast Morgan Freeman as a man who is very much like Morgan Freeman: a major movie star who considers taking a role in an independent film. The nameless actor goes to a rundown supermarket outside of Los Angeles and becomes fascinated with the the Latina check out girl (Paz Vega) who runs her express line with militant fierceness.
There are many lovely moments in 10 Items or Less. Morgan Freeman, or as he is known in the film, "that guy in the Ashley Judd movie," is an absolute doll, a sweetheart. He portrays his movie star persona much like the president of a great nation rediscovering ordinary humanity for the first time. His interactions with the masses are both funny and strangely touching. The actor marvels at the low prices at Target. He compliments female shoppers on their selections, admires an electric broom. Later, he does a dance number in a car wash with immigrant workers. Morgan Freeman has been playing tough-as-nails action stars for such a long time that it's a delight to see him so loose and easy.
Paz Vega, A Happy Cashier. Really?
Going to the movies requires a suspension of disbelief. Pesky day-to-day realities can get a well-deserved pass in cinema. But it's much more difficult--more like impossible--to believe Paz Vega as a cashier, six years on the same cruddy job, hopeless, unhappily married to the scum bag store manager (Bobby Cannavale) who impregnates the other checkout girl. Vega is flat-out luminous: beautiful face, long luscious hair, and an incredible figure. Her marvelous cleavage is shown off to good effect in nearly every shot. This is really the desperate woman who Morgan Freeman sets out to save?Silberling is asking his audience for far too much goodwill. He admirably set out to make a genuine independent film: tiny cast, tiny crew, a quick shoot, but he forgot the most important part: the story has to ring true.
