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THE WHOLE TEN YARDS

"By-the-Numbers Sequel"

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What You Need To Know:

THE WHOLE TEN YARDS collects the cast from 2000’s sleeper THE WHOLE NINE YARDS for another round. Light on action and laughs, this movie finds the cast acting by rote and the broad comedy failing. Bruce Willis is Jimmy ‘The Tulip’ Tudeski, a retired hitman who has moved to Mexico with his new wife. Matthew Perry is the dentist Oz who needs Jimmy’s help to recover his kidnapped wife. Kevin Pollak plays the angry crime boss as a stereotypical ethnic movie gangster. The story reaches for frequent caper movie conventions, including some bumbling, literal-minded crooks, a hostage exchange gone wrong, and a twist ending.

THE WHOLE TEN YARDS contains some fight scenes and gunplay. More disturbing are the threats Jimmy makes towards his wife, as well as the glee with which the professional killers describe murdering people. There is brief non-sexual nudity and a few crude sex jokes. The humor is monotonous and unlikely to snare a large audience of any age. Finally, the characters are motivated by money, which leads them to deceive and endanger each other for selfish reasons. There are worse movies out now, but there is little of positive value here.

Content:

(PaPa, B, LLL, VV, S, N, AA, MM) Pagan worldview in which crime and violence are exalted and normalized, and one character prays and references his “religiosity,” although he is a thieving professional killer; 25 obscenities, including two uses of the “f” word and nine uses of “sh,” and four profanities; young brothers punch and fight hard, man falls to death, man shot point-blank off-screen, car explodes, man slapped, several men killed in shootout, man thrown into table, man’s foot shot, criminals laughingly and graphically discuss their murders, man seriously threatens his wife, and husband-wife couple plans murder of random innocents as a romantic date activity; naked woman puts man’s hand on her so that her husband will become jealous, discussion of man’s sexual disfunction, sounds of married couple having sex heard from next room, and mild innuendo; rear male nudity and women are shown standing in underwear and naked from the side; alcohol use and drunkenness; no smoking; and, gangsters plan revenge, lie about identity, and discuss past crimes, drunk man breaks empty glasses in bar, a Girl Scout calls adult crude names, and spouses lie to each other.

GENRE: Caper Comedy

More Detail:

THE WHOLE TEN YARDS collects the cast members from 2000’s sleeper success THE WHOLE NINE YARDS, including Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, for another gangster/relationship comedy. Light on action and laughs, this movie finds the cast acting by rote and the broad comedy failing.

Bruce Willis is Jimmy ‘The Tulip’ Tudeski, a retired hitman who has moved to Mexico with his new wife Jill, played by Amanda Peet. Matthew Perry is Oz, a dentist whose wife Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge) has been kidnapped. Oz appeals to Jimmy and Jill to help rescue her from disgruntled crime boss Lazlo Gogolak – an outdated ethnic mafioso stereotype played behind thick makeup by Kevin Pollak. The story reaches for frequent caper movie conventions, including some bumbling, literal-minded crooks, a hostage exchange gone wrong, and a clumsy twist ending.

Threats and discussions of violence in this movie are often rougher than what is actually depicted, although the two children who fight over the opening credits engage in a very rough bout. Jimmy makes several explicitly violent threats towards his wife, although at the end, everyone learns that he was ‘role playing’ in order to successfully complete a heist of sorts. Those comments and the glee with which Jimmy and his wife discuss killing innocents are disturbing.

There are two instances of nudity outside a sexual context. In one, Jimmy is shown getting out of bed naked, and the audience sees his backside. In another, Amanda Peet’s character is shown in her underwear, the upper part of which she removes. She audience sees her from the side but not from the front. Later, those two characters (who are married) are heard having intercourse in the next room. There is some innuendo, including a scene in which Oz is unsure how he got into bed with Jimmy after a night of heavy drinking, but nothing too bad compared to the average teen sex farce.

The slapstick humor in THE WHOLE TEN YARDS is monotonous; the audience will be more tempted to laugh at the movie than along with it. Matthew Perry’s Oz is very similar to his FRIENDS character Chandler, with his sarcasm and ironic restatements of the obvious.

The characters are motivated by money, which leads them to deceive and endanger each other for selfish reasons. Although nothing in this movie is terribly offensive, there is little of positive value.