Apparently American Reunion wasn’t the only 2012 film to examine the subject of the high school reunion. This also becomes the primary event in 10 Years, a flick that provides the expected take on a 10-year high school gathering.

While I normally write my own plot synopses, I hate doing so for ensemble flicks like this, so I’ll just copy the blurb from the Blu-ray’s case: “Jake (Channing Tatum) is deeply in love with his girlfriend Jess (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) and ready to propose — until he runs into his high school flame Mary (Rosario Dawson). Jake’s friend Cully (Chris Pratt) married his cheerleader girlfriend Sam (Ari Graynor) and has been looking forward to the reunion so he can finally apologize to all the classmates he bullied. Marty (Justin Long) and AJ (Max Minghella) vie to impress Anna (Lynn Collins), the hottest girl in class. Reeves (Oscar Isaac) graduated a band geek, became a rock star, and knows tonight is his chance to finally talk to the secret crush Elise (Kate Mara).”

That’s a lot of characters/threads to balance in a 101-minute movie – and the synopsis doesn’t even mention all of them! – but 10 Years works fairly hard to treat them all relatively equally. Of course, that’s not possible in a literal sense, so some threads receive more attention than others. In particular, we get a lot of Jake and his feelings toward both Mary and Jess, and we also see a lot of Reeves/Elise. The other characters earn a decent amount of time, but they don’t receive quite as much attention.

I suspect the film would’ve worked better with a pared-down roster of characters. It casts an awfully broad net and just doesn’t have enough time to flesh out the participants in a vaguely satisfying manner. From start to finish, it comes with a “hit and run” vibe, as it flits around its bloated roster of roles.

Though given the nature of the story, I’m not sure it’d be any better with a more concentrated set of characters. A lot of the problem comes from the manner in which 10 Years wants all of its participants to go through big, life-changing events during the reunion. How often does that happen? Who goes to a reunion and encounters any real drama? It’s always a lot of “how’ve you been?” and “remember when?”, so the theatrics and confrontations feel artificial.

A few do ring more true, I’ll admit. Actually, when I attended my own 10-year reunion, I went through a less extreme version of Cully’s attempts to bond with former foes. A classmate with whom I never got along came up to me and wanted to bury the hatchet. I said sure – even though I couldn’t have cared less – and that was that. This lacked the drunken shenanigans of Cully’s endeavors, but at least I can relate to the concept.

The notion of persistent romantic feelings also makes sense, so I can buy into that, but the movie takes most of its themes too far. We can’t just see Marty and AJ pine for Anna; we have to find lies and revelations along the way. Has there ever been such a theatrical high school reunion with so many dramatic moments?

I guess I understand why the filmmakers went down this path, as a movie about a more real reunion would probably be pretty dull. Nonetheless, the result still feels awfully artificial, and that takes away from any potential impact.

It also wastes an impressive cast. I think the various castmembers do as much as they can with their thin roles, but they’re stuck without much room to move. Some seem totally misused; do we need strong actors like Anthony Mackie and Aubrey Plaza in throwaway parts?

10 Years never becomes a genuinely bad movie, but it seems too broad and overly dramatic. For a film that wants to be about real life, its lack of an authentic feel becomes a major flaw.

10 Years appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-Ray Disc. I found no substantial problems with this positive presentation.

The flick went with a fairly warm palette. It favored a mild amber tint that worked within the theme and context. Brighter hues looked good, and overall color balance appeared positive. Blacks were dark and tight, while shadows showed nice clarity.

Sharpness seemed fine. A little softness emerged in some wider shots, but those were rare. Overall definition was strong. Jaggies and shimmering were absent, and edge haloes weren’t a factor. No signs of source flaws emerged. Across the board, this was a pleasing transfer.

Ensemble dramas don’t usually boast dynamic audio, so don’t expect much from the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack of 10 Years. The soundfield remained pretty limited through most of the film. Music showed nice stereo presence, and a few scenes – like those in a bar - opened up the environment in a reasonably satisfying manner. Nothing memorable occurred, though; the flick could’ve been monaural and I’m not sure I would’ve noticed a substantial difference.

Audio quality was solid, however. Speech always came across as natural and distinctive, with no signs of edginess or reediness. Music sounded lush and warm, while effects – as minor as they were – appeared accurate enough. At no point did this threaten to become a dynamic soundscape, but it seemed acceptable for a film of this sort.

When we shift to extras, we find six deleted scenes that fill a total of eight minutes, 54 seconds. Some offer more general moments from the reunion, while others expand the film’s finale. Those are the more interesting of the bunch and offer the story a somewhat more downbeat conclusion.

The disc opens with ads for 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Watch. No trailer for 10 Years appears here.

With a subject to which most of us can relate, 10 Years sets up as a film that could give us an interesting character piece. However, it spreads itself too thin and lacks the substance to make it consistently involving. The Blu-ray delivers very good picture and adequate audio but skimps on supplements. Despite the efforts of a strong cast, this ends up as a forgettable flick.