Bross’ ‘Ten Benny’ Is All Too Obvious--Except for the Title

Judging by the press releases, Terrence Malick’s upcoming “The Thin Red Line” is clearly expected to rank with “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” or “The Big Chill” as an incubator of talent-to-be. Anyone involved in the film has already put it on his resume.

Among the Red Liners is Adrien Brody, a featured soldier in the film, who several years ago starred for first-time feature-maker Eric Bross in “Ten Benny” (formerly called “Nothing to Lose”), a “Mean Streets”/”GoodFellas”-inspired New Jersey-based drama that, like most first films or first novels, seems to be a regurgitation of everything that happened to the author before he sat down to make it.

This isn’t bad, nor is the fact that Bross so obviously uses Martin Scorsese as a model, although the Bross film, now in release, is a far more temperate tale of kids growing up to do bad things than Scorsese ever made.

What’s intriguing, albeit flawed, about his structuring of “Ten Benny” is that the screen time afforded each of his characters is conversely proportionate to his or her appeal. Ray Jr. (Brody), the son of an ex-con (Scorsese regular Frank Vincent, who’s arrested during the introductory flashback), is a shoe salesman with dreams (a ten benny is a size 10B, but don’t ask me why it’s the title).

A born operator, Ray Jr. wants to buy a local business and, to get it, borrows loan shark money to play a sure thing at the track. Given how early in the film the race takes place, the only sure thing is his horse’s destiny as the main course at World o’ Burgers.

In debt, in distress, Ray Jr. abuses his girlfriend, Joanne (Sybil Temchen), a waitress and wannabe college student, who’s long been lusted after by Ray Jr.’s best friend, Mike (Michael Gallagher), a guy with a nice disposition and the charisma of an artichoke. He walks into a room and people don’t notice.

We see a lot of Ray Jr., less of Mike and even less of their other pal, Butchie (Tony Gillan), the conscience of the film and its most upstanding character. (Gillan also gives the most magnetic performance.) What we’re left to do, as Ray Jr. makes mistake after mistake in pursuit of money and Mike sleeps with Joanne, is wait for Butchie to come around and tell them what jerks they are. Which he does with some aplomb.

Although surnames are avoided with the subtlety of the sausage and peppers at the San Gennaro Festival, the milieu is middle-class, blue-collar Italian. Scorsese might be critical of middle-class Italian gangsters and their families (“GoodFellas”), but Bross smears with a much broader brush, treating characters with something close to condescension. It seems unworthy of the director, who has obvious talent and, unfortunately, an equally obvious story.

* MPAA rating: R for pervasive language, and some sexuality and violence. Times guidelines: inappropriate for all but adult audiences.

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‘Ten Benny’

Adrien Brody: Ray

Michael Gallagher: Mike

Sybil Temchen: Joanne

Tony Gillan: Butchie

James E. Moriarty: Donny

A Palisades Pictures release. Directed by Eric Bross. Produced by H.M. Coakley and Bross. Written by Tom Cudworth and Bross. Co-producers Mark D. Severini and Robert Mitchell. Executive producers Paul D. Wheaton, Lisa Roberts and Michael Brysh. Director of photography Horacio Marquinez. Production designer J.C. Svec. Editor Keith Reamer. Music Chris Hajian. Costume design Jana Lee Fong. Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes.

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