Film Addict's February Film Choice

We all get the winter blues every so often, I know I do especially when I get stressed out or someone winds me up, so I thought I'd review a cheery film that is random and makes me smile throughout.  So, the Film Addict's January Film Choice is Ten Inch Hero.  It's nothing rude, I swear.

Ten Inch Hero is David Mackey's 2007 independent romantic comedy film; stars include Elisabeth Harnois (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Keith), Clea DuVall (Argo, Heroes), Sean Patrick Flanery (Saw 3D, The Boondock Saints), Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, Dark Angel), Danneel Harris (One Tree Hill, Friends with Benefits), and John Doe (Roswell, The Good Girl)

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Comedy fans

Favourite Characters: Priestly

Favourite Part: Priestly: You're shittin' me. Jen, please tell me you didn't leave Fuzzy sitting down there wondering.  God damn it Jen.                 
Jen: I don't expect you to understand.    
Priestly: Oh I understand.  I understand you wouldn't talk to him 'cause you were terrified he'd judge you on the basis of your looks, yet you're completely comfortable doing the exact same thing to him.  Unbelievable, god!

Good Points: The employees of the sandwich shop; touching film with interesting dialogue; visually vibrant; funny

Bad Points: Priestly at the end; Piper's storyline

Ten Inch Hero revolves around a sandwich shop run by Trucker (Doe) and those that work there, Tish (Harris), Jen (DuVall), and Priestly (Ackles) as Piper (Harnois) enters the shop, responding to the "Help Wanted: Normal People Need Not Apply" sign stuck in the window.  All have their own story that intertwines with the others in Ten Inch Hero but it mostly focusses on Piper who has moved to Santa Cruz to find the daughter she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager as she believes that she and her adoptive family live there because of an article she found in a newspaper.  As she starts to work at the sandwich shop, she becomes friends with all of the workers there and loves them for their quirks as she meets the young girl who she thinks is her daughter and her father, Noah (Flanery).

The employees and the two older customers of the sandwich shop were wonderful alone and as a collective because they were quirky/different in their own way and had a great dynamic and the moment Piper entered the shop, I loved them all.  As a group, they were wonderfully wacky and behaved like a family rather than work friends as they supported one another through good times and bad.  As characters, I thought they were wonderful but I would also like to add that the actors were fantastic too, bouncing off one another during the sandwich shop scenes and their body language helped build their characters and personalities along with their lines, something that can be neglected in a relatively unknown film.

For me, Ten Inch Hero is a sweet, touching film with great dialogue and characters; at first, it comes across as just a chick flick and I can see that but there is more to it than meets the eye, it's a romance, it's a comedy, but focusses on the entire cast rather than one character or a couple, something that doesn't happen normally in chick flicks.  Granted, I don't like to stereotype, I can't imagine many guys seeing this unless they were with their other halves but it is funny and they are missing out just because romantic comedies are something deemed as feminine and "girly"; Ten Inch Hero is about not judging a book by its cover and everyone needs to know that.

Setting Ten Inch Hero in Santa Cruz brings the stereotype with it that the film will be colourful visually and full of eccentric characters because it's California where it's sunny and everything appears to be more relaxed rather than the conformed eastern side of America.  The timing of filming - with bright sunshine throughout - helps accentuate the bright colours along with the cinematography.  I expect some eccentric characters given the characters though I wasn't expecting them to look eccentric in their dress sense; fortunately, the filmmakers were subtle about it as only Priestly was dressed oddly with bright T-shirts with random phrases on them, a colourful fanhawk (a variant of the mohican), piercings, tattoos, and even a kilt at one point which made him stand out even more.  The others were costumed in more casual summer clothing which just helped set the scene too and I'm glad no one else was dressed like Priestly because that could have been too weird for a general audience but they still behaved oddly just like him.

Comedy is a difficult genre to do in film unless you have a good script and actors that can pull it off as well as good editing, direction, and cinematography and fortunately, Ten Inch Hero has all of these.  At certain points, music helped bring humour to a scene as well, such as when Priestly is introduced and whenever Zo makes an appearance and drawing attention to them in that moment.  The comedic timing of the actors combined with the script and the editing choices makes this story funny as reactions to the dialogue are equally important in comedy as dialogue.  This, other than the characters, is the main reason why I love this film because it always makes me laugh no matter how times I've seen it and it's getting quite high in the double digits now on that account.

While I find Priestly hypocritical at the end, which I will talk about in a moment, I still love his character more so than the others because from the moment he walked into the sandwich shop, he caught my attention and never let go.  He is a funny, quirky character full of sarcasm.  While it didn't hurt that he was portrayed by Jensen Ackles, it wasn't just because I find him handsome that I love Priestly in Ten Inch Hero, he spoke his mind and especially wasn't afraid to call out his friends on their behaviour, something that the others should have done as well.  I did love Priestly's punk appearance too as it made him stand out and further enforces that he is an unusual character and a bit of an attention seeker which is always fun to see.  This role allowed Ackles to play the clown, something he doesn't do very often in Supernatural as the series progresses so it is great to see him utilise his comedic timing a bit more as I love it when he gets a funny scene in Supernatural and this time is no different, especially the shopping scene.

While I love Priestly's character for a number of reasons I find him to be hypocritical at the end after he has lectured Jen, and Tish, about judging others on their outward appearance yet, right at the end, he changes his punk attire for preppy clothing from "The Banana Republic, for god's sake".  What happened to the fanhawks?  What happened to the kilt and funny shirts?  This just annoyed me because he conformed to others' opinions because he knows they judge him for his odd appearance.  He lost his appeal for me at that moment, as it was like he didn't believe his own press; he could have still got the girl if he had the guts to ask her out.  However, I can see that maybe he was hiding his true self behind his punk appearance so the change shows him embracing himself for who is and not hiding behind a mask but I still don't like it.

I personally thought Piper's storyline was forced, making her look stalker-like as she randomly found a young girl called Julia with artistic ability and a dad called Noah.  It just made her very unappealing for me during these scenes and I just wanted to skip them; I didn't dislike her overall as a character because she brought something to the shop but I would have like her storyline with Julia and Noah to have been different and less stalker-like - a blossoming romance rather than the possibility of Julia being Piper's baby.

Priestly: You're shittin' me. Jen, please tell me you didn't leave Fuzzy sitting down there wondering.  God damn it Jen.                 
Jen: I don't expect you to understand.     
Priestly: Oh I understand.  I understand you wouldn't talk to him 'cause you were terrified he'd judge you on the basis of your looks, yet you're completely comfortable doing the exact same thing to him.  Unbelievable, god!

I did it difficult to pick just one part that I liked out of Ten Inch Hero but this one won.  I loved this part because of how Priestly called Jen out on her behaviour, something Piper and Tish who were with her when she ran away from meeting Fuzzy should have done; I found that scene heartbreaking and couldn't believe Jen did that so I completely agree with Priestly because it does hurt when someone just judges you before they've even spoken to you.  It is also clear to see that Priestly is annoyed that people judge him on his looks which is why he is ignored by Tish who he clearly has feelings for; no one should be judged by their looks solely but unfortunately they do.  This part summarises the film for me as well and the message that makes it one of my top films; that you shouldn't judge by its cover and the fact that it was Priestly delivering this speech didn't hurt either as I loved this part of his character, that he spoke his mind.

Before I go on, I know I said that is one of my top films, Priestly's change at the end annoys me so much that I couldn't give Ten Inch Hero a 10.  However, Ten Inch Hero is a sweet, touching film with a great script and excellent actors who embraced their characters wholeheartedly and created a great dynamic and foundation that the film was built on.  While I found Piper's storyline very dislikeable as she came across very much like a stalker in my opinion, I loved how each sandwich shop employee had an individual that intertwined.  The bright colours and wonderful cinematography draws your attention and the characters hold it, especially Priestly for me; with your attention captured, you can appreciate that the script and actors are funny, something that can fail if not done well.  While it is a romantic comedy, I believe anyone can watch it as it isn't solely focussed on a character's story, you are shown everyone's story, something you don't find all of the time in chick flicks so watch it; it's funny and the actors are great.