Year One (Sony Pictures)
Uncivilized
Somewhere along the way Jack Black stopped being funny, or in fairness maybe he stopped being as funny as he once was. Michael Cera, well he never was that funny. Now the two of them are co-starring in the film Year One and it is not very funny at all.
Black plays Zed and Cera plays Oh, two men living in biblical times. Zed is a hunter and Oh is a gatherer and neither one is very good at his job. So they decide to leave their village and explore the world. At least they plan to go as far as the dropping off point since they think the world is flat.
Along the way they meet Cain and Abel (David Cross and Paul Rudd). Later they meet Abraham (Hank Azaria) and his son Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Isaac takes them to the town of Sodom, which he says is a really fun place.
On and on they go meeting people and getting in tough jams. They manage to come out on top because Zed believes he is the Chosen One. Oh knows he isnt but he goes along with the gag. They are also pursuing two women, Maya and Eema (June Diane Raphael and Juno Temple). These two lovely ladies are from Zed and Ohs original tribe but have been taken into slavery.
The bright spot of the film is Oliver Platt who plays a high priest. Platt throws himself into the role, being sillier and sillier and for some reason it works. Black and Cera should have tried some of that logic.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual situations.
Year One does have some funny moments but they are too few. Most of the time you are sitting around waiting for something to happen, anything to happen. It shouldnt be like this especially when you learn the movie is directed by Harold Ramis of Ghostbusters, Stripes and Groundhog Day fame. Those movies are classics while this one definitely is not.
If you are an absolutely die-hard Jack Black fan then you might get enough of him in this movie to make it palatable. For the rest of you, well you might just want to move on to Year Two or any other time in our history.
I scored Year One a prehistoric 4 out of 10.
