Sunday, June 21, 2009 | A+E, Movies, Reviews
Chuckles, but no belly laughs, in ‘Year One’

A ShortTakes Review

Suzanne Hanover/Columbia Pictures
 Jack Black and Michael Cera

“YEAR ONE”
Jack Black, Michael Cera
Directed by Harold Ramis
Rated PG-13
Wide release

There couldn’t be more snickers in “Year One” if the Mars candy company had paid for product placement, but there’s not a single really big laugh. That’s OK—the dullest two minutes of “Year One” are funnier than all of “Land of the Lost.”

Like Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” without the intelligence, “Year One” is a comedy about the birth of civilization. Some religious nuts may embarrass themselves by protesting the film’s biblical reinterpretations, but it’s too silly to take seriously.

Jack Black and Michael Cera position themselves as a latter-day Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello. Zed (Black) is a hunter—not a very good one—and Oh (Cera) a gatherer in their prehistoric village. Zed is driven out after eating forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, and Oh tags along to explore beyond the limits of the known world.

They witness Cain (David Cross) kill Abel (Paul Rudd) and Abraham (Hank Azaria) almost sacrifice Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). In Sodom, Zed catches the eye of Princess Inanna (Olivia Wilde), while Oh is painted gold by a eunuch (Kyle Gass) and forced to rub oil on the High Priest (Oliver Platt). One minute they’re slaves, the next guards, the next prisoners. Structured like a cartoon, “Year One” gets people out of impossible situations by simply cutting to the next scene.

Nothing in “Year One” is credible, but everything is consistent. With Judd Apatow producing and Harold Ramis directing and co-writing, there’s enough comic cred to go around—although with the talents involved, it’s surprising that they couldn’t find funnier outtakes to run behind the credits. 2.5 STARS—Steve Warren