Director: Harold Ramis
Runtime: 97 minutes
Release Date: 19 June, 2009  

What happens when Jack Black and Michael Cera take on the roles of cave men? The same thing that always happens, as it turns out.

Enter Year One, a movie where Black plays Zed, a cave man version of every character he has ever played, and Cera plays Oh, a cave man-boy version of every character he has ever played. Two lovable outcasts looking to prove that they aren't the losers that everyone seems to think they are. Have you seen this comedy before? If you've seen comedies before, then yes. Yes you have.

It's a tough movie to review, to be honest. The script wasn't designed to carry itself, but rather to serve as a template for which the actors could wink, grin, and stutter through. So if you've liked the main actors in other movies, then you'll enjoy it. If you didn't, then you won't. I personally do, so I thought Year One was pretty fun, filled with Biblical silliness and just enough poop jokes to satisfy (but not irritate) the 12-year-old boy that hides, giggling at words like “duty” and “member,” inside all of us.

I got a little tired of the main characters at times, but the supporting cast helps carry the movie when Black and Cera stumble. David Cross plays a marvelous Cain (yes, that Cain), Hank Azaria shows up with his Sea Captain brogue to play circumcision-loving Abraham, and the whole city of Soddom lives up to its reputation with decadent joy.

There's a moral thrown in like an afterthought at the end, but Year One isn't about lessons, and (though it does try it's damndest) it's not really about subversion or satire either. Year One is about silliness. If you see it, don't try to think too hard past that, or you'll just wind up disappointed.

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Give This Man More Roles: David Cross. I loved him in Arrested Development and it turns out I still do. He'll never be a leading man, but maybe one day he can make it to Steve Buscemi (a.k.a “that one guy who's in everything”) fame.
New Characters Needed: Michael Cera. Jack Black will be able to play the bumbling goof for the rest of his life, but Shy, Awkwardly Sweet Man-Boy stops working when the actor starts getting a five o'clock shadow. I like Cera, but he's got to learn a facial expression outside of “baffled” or he's going to have trouble finding work soon.

Final Grade: As the Animaniacs once sang, “Don't pay $7.50, just catch it on home video.” (Considering that those lyrics were written over 10 years ago, it's shocking that I'm still paying that to go to the theaters. Thank God for Midwest living and the student discount, that's all I'm sayin'.) C+

~R

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