YEAR ONE
By: Joey Magidson
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No amount of years could make "One" seem good to our critic...
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There’s a good movie somewhere to be found in relation to Year One, but unfortunately it’s not the one that shows up onscreen. This
movie has all the earmarks of being neutered to achieve a PG-13 rating instead of an R. This hamstrings director Harold Ramis, and
ends up sinking the movie, despite the talent involved. What could have been raunchy, irreverent, and hilarious, instead ends up being
limp, lame, and a big disappointment.
Zed (Jack Black) and Oh (Michael Cera) are cavemen taking a sort of greatest hits tour through prehistory and biblical tales. Think a
comedic version of Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 B.C. crossed with Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part 1, and you sort of know where
this is going, except without the wit of Mel Brooks or the dumbass spectacle of Emmerich. Wherever Zed and Oh go, they crack wise
and get into trouble, but it all seems rather boring, as if everyone involved is just going through the motions.
Jack Black is always better as a supporting role or when he’s not being “Jack Black”, so a little of him goes a long way, and here there’
s too much. Michael Cera’s style doesn’t fit much with the setting, but he isn’t bad. The cameos by the likes of Paul Rudd, David
Cross, Hank Azaria, etc, aren’t too noteworthy. No one is onscreen enough to do any harm or good to the film, so it ends up being
rather monotonous.
My chief complaint with Year One is that at every opportunity they had to be edgy, it shies away and goes for the cheap laugh. That
frustrated me and just made me look towards all the ways this film could have been better. Harold Ramis is a good director, but Year
One is not a very good film.
**/****
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