10 Items or Less (2006)

An actor (Freeman) prepping for an upcoming role meets a quirky grocery clerk (Vega), and the pair hit the road to show one another their respective worlds.

Director:

Brad Silberling

Writer:

Brad Silberling

Stars:

Morgan Freeman, Paz Vega, Jonah Hill

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Morgan Freeman	...	Him
Paz Vega	...	Scarlet
Jonah Hill	...	Packy
Anne Dudek	...	Lorraine
Francisca Hernandez	...	Market Wife / Market Gossip #1
Nacho Pina	...	Market Husband
Hector Running-Hawk	...	Squeezing Customer
Alexis Hernandez	...	Cowed Customer
Silvia Curiel	...	Shocked Customer
Shawn Calizo	...	Scared Customer
Kumar Pallana	...	Lee
Rosa Diaz	...	Market Gossip #2
Hector Atreyu Ruiz	...	Gangbanger in Lowrider
Bobby Cannavale	...	Bobby
Leonardo Nam	...	Kid at Target

Storyline

A well-known actor, who hasn't accepted a role in four years, is considering a project. The cousin of the director drives him to Archie's Ranch Market, in Carson, and drops him off to do a little research. He's fascinated by one of the checkers, Scarlet, a young woman from Spain with a preternatural ability to ring up items at the cash register. She hates her job, stuck at the 10 items or less lane. The actor chats her up, and when her shift ends, he asks for a ride. In the course of the afternoon, he helps her prepare for a job interview. She needs to have confidence, he needs to commit. Human contact, however brief, can change people.

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Plot Keywords:

watching tv | actor | research | job interview | interview | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes in Life You Have to Change Lanes.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

8 February 2007 (Israel)

Also Known As:

10 stvari ili manje

Filming Locations:

Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$35,929, 3 December 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$81,416, 17 December 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Reveal Entertainment,Revelations Entertainment,Mockingbird Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At a press appearance before a screening at The Paramount Thearer in Charlottesville, Virginia, to WMRA radio's Terry Ward, Morgan Freeman said that this film fit right in with his own personal hope to shed his image as someone usually so heavy with gravitas.

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Goofs

As "Him" is walking through the store, after the mop demonstration, he does not have a mop. But when they are outside walking to the car, he has one.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Him: Sorry, what was your name again?
Packy: Packy.
Him: Packy?
Packy: Yeah.
Him: Are we lost, Packy?

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Crazy Credits

"The producers regret that not one dime of product placement money was received in the making of this motion picture."

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Connections

References Let's Make a Deal (1963)

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Soundtracks

Con Tu Amor Y Pasion
Written by Sergio Cardenas & Fernando Cavazos
Performed by Sergio Cardenas
Courtesy of Pigfactory USA

User Reviews

Lightweight, but delightful

This movie is a little ray of sunshine in a dark season. It celebrates a quality best described as plain old friendliness. Morgan Freeman plays a character very like Freeman himself--a successful actor pushing 70. He has traveled to a small, rather grimy grocery store intending to research a part he might play, as a manager of such a place. He soon beguiles the staff and the customers, especially the lovely, if cranky, young woman (Paz Vega) who presides over the "10 items or less" checkout lane.

10 Items Or Less doesn't have a big statement to make and doesn't pretend that it does. It follows Freeman and Vega as they become friendly, and as the older man offers his counsel, in exchange for a ride home--the movie-company gofer who is supposed to pick him up never shows and Freeman has forgotten his own phone number so he can't call for help. I had a little case of the blues on a gray Sunday afternoon in New York City and this flick cured what ailed me.