Take the first short, which should really be the funniest, just to get things rolling: A guy (Adam Brody) jumps from a plane without a parachute. Miraculously, he survives the fall, and the media turn him into a "false god." However, because he's buried halfway up to his neck in the ground and going nowhere, he can't really enjoy his newfound fame.

The other nine shorts are just as far removed from reality, making it a real test to connect with the characters. Paul Rudd, who acts as our host, proves the most obnoxious, popping up between sketches to argue with his wife (Famke Janssen) and introduce each sin.

There's a reason we don't see more movies about religion, and it has nothing to do with the rhetoric you always hear about Hollywood being a godforsaken place. Put simply, in movies, the screenwriter and director are god. They decide what happens to every character, leaving little room for spirituality.

Wain and Marino are especially cruel to their creations. Their sense of humor works best for those who can guffaw at the sheer absurdity of the scenarios: A prisoner covets his cellmate's ass, a shy librarian loses her virginity to Jesus, a lonely woman runs off with a ventriloquist's dummy and so on. Winona Ryder stars in the "thou shalt not steal" episode (which is pretty clever, if you think about it), and other decent actors show up in small parts. But as comedies go, The Ten is guilty of the biggest sin of all: It simply isn't funny.

[as featured in The Fort Worth Star Telegram]