Year One
Year One - Jack Black
Rating: 
Movie: Year One (2009)
Studio : Columbia Pictures
Info : Click Here
Runtime : 97min
Website : yearone-movie.com
Trailer : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8wfsx
Review:
When my friend Rob proposed that we see Year One, I jumped at the chance. Here we had Jack Black and Michael Cera, two of my favorite actors, collaborating with Harold Ramis, a comic legend. Where could they go wrong?
The answer: the script. Year One is such an unfocused, unfunny mess I don’t even know where to begin tearing it apart. The movie naturally takes place in “year one,” in which Black and Cera are two hunter/gatherers. Black, in all his manic wisdom, manages to eat the “forbidden fruit” (Biblical parallels, anyone?) and is subsequently expelled from his tribe. In yet another parody of Jerry Maguire, Black announces that he intends to explore the outside world and invites anyone willing to accompany him. Cera (playing essentially the same milquetoast from Juno and Superbad) volunteers, and the two are off on their adventure.
The movie doesn’t seem to have much of a story, as the two of them meet various Biblical icons, including David Cross and Paul Rudd as Cain and Abel, respectively, Hank Azaria as Abraham, and Christopher Mintz-Pleasse as Isaac. Mintz-Pleasse had my sides splitting as McLovin, so I naturally thought any movie with him in it wouldn’t be all bad. Unfortunately, his comedic talents are wasted, as he has maybe nine or ten lines throughout the movie.
Black and Cera do what they can with the material, but they can’t save the script. We’re treated to a story that plays mostly like a series of unfinished Monty Python sketches, along with Cera urinating on himself, Cera rubbing oil on a hairy Oliver Platt, and a couple of smiles, but no laughs. The rowdy high schoolers who populated the theater remained mostly silent throughout the ordeal. I remained silent during, and after the movie, wondering to myself why I had paid 12 bucks to see it on opening weekend. Although it’s nearly out of the theaters, if you haven’t seen it, I’ll steer you away from renting it on DVD or even catching it on cable. See a Monty Python film or History of the World, Part I instead.
-Craig Wynne
