Year One [Celluloid Hero]
Year One (2009)
I'm usually a fan of Jack Black; I've gone back and forth on Michael Cera; Harold Ramis is a comedic legend; a supporting cast of David Cross, Vinnie Jones, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria and tons more should have made this good. In the end, I was reminded why I skipped this movie when it came out, and really could have gone without it.
Black and Cera play Zed and Oh, cavemen who are near the bottom rung of their tribe of hunters and gatherers. They end up banished from the land, and somehow jump into the world of the Bible. They meet Cain and Abel, Abraham and Isaac, and take down a false idol.
Everything reminded me of a Mel Brooks movie, but not a good one. Like, a real bad an attempt at a Mel Brooks movie. Maybe it just reminded me of the Ancient Rome part of "History of the World Part 1", but even a lot of the jokes, full setups and punchlines, just felt like watered-down Brooks.
This was actually towards the end of my Jack Black fandom, when I started to grow tired of his Jack Black-ness. I've really enjoyed some Cera movies, but get burned out on him real quick; he's had a few great moments, but this was definitely not one of them. David Cross raised things up, along with Platt and Azaria, but even with those solid supporting roles, it just ended up as a comedy that barely made me laugh.
[Celluloid Hero] gives "Year One" a 3 out of 10.