Jack Black and Michael Cera are hunter and gatherer named Zed and Oh living in the supposed year one. Hunting and Gathering are basically the only two options in their tribe and neither are very good at it. The two are banished after Zed eats the forbidden fruit and burns down Oh’s hut. They decide to explore the world and discover the mysteries of life. Along the way they continue to run across many historical biblical figures, including Cain and Abel, Isaac and Abraham and the city of Sodom. I know none of these stories happen during the same time line from the Bible but, whatever, it’s a comedy right?… Isn’t it?… laugh if you agree…Did anyone see this?
I’m not sure who the audience is for this. I will say that I laughed quite a bit during the first 15 minutes, but I was the only one. I think I heard some other laughter but I’m pretty sure they were laughing at me laughing at the film. I finally joined the crowd and was silent for the duration. YEAR ONE had its moments. Michael Cera doing classic Michael Cera trying to pick up on a girl is funny. Using the time period to poke fun at how normal it was for them to live and think so primitively is also funny. Eating poop and rubbing oil on chest hair is not so funny. There were far too many gross out physical jokes and not enough word play jokes for my taste. Unfortunately the further along the movie went the less funny it became.
The production value for the movie was nil. It seems like it was made 20 years ago in my backyard. Seriously, it should have been a direct to VHS in the 80’s. I love the director, Harold Ramis and most all the actors that had a part in it (David Cross, Hank Azaria and Oliver Platt) I find to be very funny, however, everyone comes and goes like they each are in their own mildly funny SNL sketches. YEAR ONE starts out funny but quickly fades with a couple of laughs throughout. It was just kind of cute on a very minor alcohol buzzed with a few friends kind of level. The screenplay was written by more people I love being Harold Ramis again, and Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg who are both regular writers for the Office. So many great talents and we have an unoriginal story with mediocre typical jokes. There are a few laughs within but you can get a few more laughs from similar movies like HISTORY OF WORLD PART 1, MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN or even the Bible itself.
