Simple-minded 'Year One' painfully unfunny

Published: Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:00 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 

YEAR ONE — ★— Jack Black, Michael Cera; rated PG-13 (vulgarity, violence, profanity, slurs, brief sex, brief drugs, torture, brief gore, nude artwork); in general release

"Year One" — a film so simple-minded that even a caveman could have written it. Or could have directed it …

But really, what more could you expect from movie that's so reliant on the tiresome shtick of alleged funnymen Jack Black and Michael Cera?

They star as Zed and Oh, members of a tribe of primitive hunter-gatherers. The portly Zed (Black) is terrible at hunting. The painfully shy Oh (Cera) is just as inept at gathering.

But worse things befall the pair after the fast-talking Zed samples forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. They're banished from the tribe, and then the rest of the movie sees them stumbling around from one ill-conceived and painfully unfunny skit to another.

In their travels, our dopey heroes:

Encounter Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd).

Stop Abraham (Hank Azaria) from sacrificing his son, Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

Wind up being enslaved in Sodom and Gomorrah, alongside their would-be lady loves, Maya (June Diane Raphael) and Eema (Juno Temple).

Predictably, Black and Cera simply offer versions of the same characters they have for several movies now.

Story continues below

What's really hard to believe, though, is that this film was directed by Harold Ramis, who at one point in his career gave us the original "Vacation" movie as well as "Groundhog Day."

"Year One" is rated PG-13 and features crude humor relating to bodily and sexual functions (sight gags and references), supposedly comic violence (pratfalls, brawlings, swordplay, beheadings and some violence against women), occasional strong profanity (including one use of the so-called "R-rated curse word), derogatory language and slurs (some based on sexual orientation), a brief sex scene (implied), brief drug content and references (hallucinogens), a scene of torture, brief gore, and nude statues. Running time: 97 minutes.

E-mail: jeff@desnews.com

Recent comments

I hereby end this discussion. It's pretty much run its course. A...

Arbiter | June 24, 2009 at 4:42 p.m.

"Here in the U.S. men try to respect women--despite the fact that...

No, you STILL don't get it. | June 24, 2009 at 11:04 a.m.

Let me get this straight:

At the Utah state prison there are...

I think I got it now! | June 23, 2009 at 8:27 a.m.

Image
Suzanne Hanover

Jack Black, left, and Michael Cera star in the comedy "Year One."

previousnext

Latest comments

Beck, Hannity, and Limbaugh get the audience they deserve and vice versa. ...

I find the rule,very discriminitory. I am not gay, I don't understand what...

Celtics crush Jazz

I understand we were outmanned last night. However, this effort was awful....

Tavernari has matured

My advice to Jonathan is shoot it when they pass it to you as soon as you...

Maybe they should try drafting a shooting guard who can shoot from outside ....

The sad thing about it is that there are actually people out there that are...

12 Utes return to Texas

Thank you TCU and BYU. Your wanting to beat Utah so bad has to drive you...

Celtics crush Jazz

Play fes and koufos. Look to the future. It looks like we will have two...

Letters: Obama 'too busy'

Oh come on. Obama's a horrible president, but I couldn't care less which...

"We had the best soccer of any place in the state. There's no disputing...

Advertisements
Advertisement