10 Items or Less is a 2006 American indie dramedy film written and directed by Brad Siberling.
Morgan Freeman stars as an unnamed actor returning to work after several years away from the job. His newest role is the part of someone who works in a grocery store. To prepare for the role, he spends some time in a grocery store, where he meets Scarlet, played by Paz Vega (of Sex And Lucia and Spanglish fame). A friendship forms between Scarlet and Freemman's character and the rest of the movie is about getting Scarlet to try to better herself by applying for a job in another field.
Not to be confused with the TV show of the same name.
10 Tropes or Less:
- Ambition is Evil: Inverted. Freeman's character is respected for his accomplishments, and ambition is presented as a positive thing for Scarlet.
- Cool Shades: Morgan Freeman rocks a pair of badass aviators, even indoors.
- Fish out of Water: The actor seems to have no idea how basic society works, even being baffled by an express checkout lane, something that everyone who has ever shopped at a supermarket should be familiar with.
- Flipping the Bird: The two rival cashiers exchange a flurry of these early on.
- Montage: An extended scene of Morgan Freeman's character aping Lee.
- Mundane Object Amazement: Upon entering a chain retail superstore, the actor is awestruck, while Scarlet (a checkout worker at a grocery) is thoroughly dispassionate.Him: This is amazing.
Scarlet: It's... Target. - No Name Given: No one ever refers to the name of Morgan Freeman's character. Freeman is credited as Him.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: Scarlet is stated to know how much a customer owes just by sight, and explains it as "You've got prices, you've got totals, how many can there be?" Considering the number of items in even a small store, factor in the number of items a customer will buy will vary and the quantity of each item a customer purchases and the answer turns very astronomical very quickly. And that's before factoring in inflation and market fluctuations that will change prices on a daily basis.
