Ten Inch Hero (2007) - 6/10

Since my first review was the very popular John Wick, I wanted to pivot to something more obscure, and more importantly, something I had never watched before. Remarkably, as I randomly scrolled through my list, I ended up overachieving. Ten Inch Hero is not only a movie I had never seen or heard of before, but it turned out to be a small budget independent comedy that failed to secure a theatrical release and went straight-to-video. Perfect. 

Well, I wont blab for too long before jumping into the Rubric, but since a small amount of people have actually seen this movie, I'll give some quick initial thoughts. Ten Inch Hero fits nicely into the late 90s/early 00s coming of age dramedy where a group of quirky characters, each with very distinct personalities, act like a dysfunctional family while working through their individual conflicts. In other words, while you may have never seen or heard of this film... you actually have seen it. But without further ado, lets jump in. 

 

1. Acting

The beginning of the film felt rough in terms of acting, but I think it was largely just due to it needing to settle into itself and characters. As things progress the acting took a big step up and the chemistry amongst the cast stood out. Now, don't get me wrong, nobody in the film was going to sweep the awards season. But the characters slowly began to come to life and the charm and humor of the script became apparent. 

In particular, Jensen Ackles shines early and often as Priestly and displayed some of the great comedy chops he would soon display on his show Supernatural. 

Clea DuVall also stands out amongst the small cast. Her performance, more than anyone else's, felt like an actual person rather than a character. Her acting seemed effortless and much more deeply nuanced.

2. Cinematography

Not a ton in term of cinematography for this film. The tone is light and airy matching not just the  California setting, but the overall comedic feel of the story. Otherwise, the notable aspect that stood out was the choice to frame characters in closeups. If a conversation was happening (which is most of the movie) it was usually a collection of cuts between single character frames and felt disjointed at times.

3. Production/Costume Design

The small budget was an obvious factor here. The vast majority was filmed on-site at fewer than probably 10 pre-existing locations. Not necessarily a flaw, just a reality of the crews constraints. The majority of production design came from the props and costume department who did their best to fill in the world and make the characters unique with individual styles. 

4. Writing

Writing for the film was a definite mixed bag. The dialogue amongst the main cast had some truly great moments of playful banter and paired very well with the chemistry the cast had built. The characters felt real and had arcs, however it was all very cliche.

The plot on the other hand was a bit of a mess. I cant tell if I'm just over-analyzing because I had my 'reviewer' glasses on while watching, or if the script failed to cover ups its own formulaic approach. Each character has their own 'unique' stereotype and 'unique' arc that they are following. Each faces some adversarial moment and then they change. It is basic stuff for screenwriting, it just felt very obvious. 

Maybe more importantly, the adversarial moments felt predictable and the change unearned. And in a lot of the arcs, the change felt either really weird or off-putting. It really didn't reach beyond the standards;  guy overlooked by the girl changes for her, girl who was overlooking the guy changes and finally sees him; other girl overcomes her insecurity and gets her guy; and then of course - girl who was searching for her baby she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager mistakenly befriends the now single dad and suspected child 6 years later, becomes their babysitter, beloved by the daughter, apparently becomes romantic with the dad, only to find out it's actually not her kid, but still apparently becomes the new mom for the mistaken family anyway because... change? You know- the classics.

5. Sound Design

Again, it's an independent micro budget film. Nothing particularly special here. Some classic early 00s pop rock mixed in with some oddly noticeable 'stock' scoring. Like TV style piano tones played during the background of moments. It was fine. 

6. Editing

Oof. For some reason they shot a lot of dialogue scenes with close ups of single characters. Meaning that if there are 6 people participating in the conversation, you are watching near constant cutting between different peoples faces while they say their one line. It was disjointed and distracting. Yet other times, they went wider and stayed with shots longer. It may have just been logistical choices they had to make based on what set they were in, but this stood out quite a bit.

7. Visual Effects

None to really speak of here. 

8. Originality or Strength of Adaptation

Not particularly original. Again, this movie feels right at home in the late 90s/early 00s teen or young adult coming of age genre. It doesn't really offer anything new, but with a bigger budget, may have actually contended as a sleeper version of something like Empire Records or Can't Hardly Wait. 

9. Stunt Coordination

Some really basic 'stunts' in this movie, usually played for comedy. The movie doesn't take itself very seriously, so there wasn't a need to take the stunts too seriously.

10. Direction

David Mackay never really broke out into any 'mainstream' type movies. Instead his career seems to have embraced the Hallmark style made for TV movies. That's not a knock, just the reality. But in this particular case I think he managed to piece together a coherent, yet cliche'd, coming of age movie made with a small budget and served as a platform for actors who went on to work on some great films and TV shows. 

Bonus. Legacy

Not really. It seems to have garnered a small following as a hidden gem type movie, particularly resonant with people who were the 'right age' when they saw it.

Final Thought

As I've gotten older, I've had less time to mess around watching weird little movies like these and hoping to find a diamond in the rough. I actually enjoyed watching this quite a bit, despite the critiques I laid out. Hopefully there will be more in the future.