10 Items or Less (film)
10 Items or Less is a 2006 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Brad Silberling and starring Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega. Shot in fifteen days, "10 Items or Less" made its release as a digital download – the first such release via the Internet – while it was still in theaters. ClickStar, founded by Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary, made the film available digitally on December 15, 2006, fourteen days after its theatrical debut. This event was highlighted by the American Film Institute in their AFI Awards 2006 "Moments of Significance". Premise. Through circumstance , two strangers, an actor (Freeman) preparing for an upcoming role and a cashier (Vega), drive around Los Angeles together, having a number of conversations about life and exploring the differences and similarities between their worlds. Production. Revelation Entertainment produced the film, and Morgan Freeman served as executive producer. The film was shot in fifteen days, entirely in Carson and Brentwood. Reception. Box office. The film was released in only fifteen theaters, taking in $35,929 in its first weekend. The total domestic box-office take was $83,291. The film was more successful internationally, grossing $1,315,931 at the international  box office, with $486,895 grossed in Vega's home country of Spain. Critical response. Jonathan Rosenbaum of the "Chicago Reader", called the film "A friendly demonstration of how two actors with charisma and a relaxed writer-director (Brad Silberling) can make a nice movie for practically nothing." In contrast, Desson Thomson, of "The Washington Post", believes that the film is "a natural but failed experiment about a pleasant encounter in the style of independent films". Robert Koehler of Variety wrote: " Interplay between a jaunty Freeman as an unemployed movie star and the magnetic Paz Vega as a no-nonsense  grocery store checker gives pic humanity and lift." Critical reaction to the film was mixed, with general praise for the work of the two main actors. On Rotten Tomatoes the film had a 63% approval rating based on 60 reviews. On Metacritic it has a score of 54% based on reviews from 20 critics. Accolades. The film was named one of the "Top Independent Films of 2006" by the National Board of Review. Home media. The DVD was released in the U.S. on April 24, 2007. It includes commentary by Silberling, a featurette on 'the making of', 6 deleted scenes , and 3 promotional shorts. Soundtrack. Although a soundtrack was not officially released, the following songs were included in the film: