10 Years (2011) follows a bunch of friends who reconvene on the night of their ten-year high school reunion to find they still all have some growing up to do. There's Jake (Channing Tatum), the everyman who's ready to pop the question to his girlfriend Jess (Jenna Dewan-Tatum), until for this first time since school he encounters his ex, Mary (Rosario Dawson), whose father's death marred graduation for her. Jake's best mate Cully (Chris Pratt) has been anticipating the reunion so he can finally apologise to all the classmates he bullied, but just add alcohol and his old ways resurface. Perennial friendly rivals Marty (Justin Long) and A.J. (Max Minghella) again spend all night trying to woo the school sweetheart Anna (Lynn Collins), now a single mother of two and the most mature one there. Finally there's Reeves (Oscar Isaac), who's now a rock star but still can't talk to his teenage crush Elise (Kate Mara), along with numerous other old faces.
10 Years is rather like a contemporary sequel to any John Hughes film, but with a charm and honesty of its own. Debuting writer-director Jamie Linden, who's since co-scripted Jodie Foster's Money Monster, gets every nuance and aesthetic choice spot-on here. The characters may initially seem pretty clichéd, but ultimately they do feel very authentic and fully drawn, because odds are you went to school with some of them yourself. I know I did. All of them are very naturally and subtly played also, with Lynn Collins a standout.
There's not much to say about the technicals here, except that Kara Lindstrom's production design potently evokes all the nerves and nostalgia a high school reunion inspires, and Chad Fischer's score is restrained but effective. I last watched 10 Years deliberately on the morning before my own ten-year high school reunion in 2015, but it will charm, amuse and nourish you any time at all. It really is like coming home.
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