The Comedy

Two cavemen are kicked out of their "village" when one eats from the tree of good and evil (so the Bible jokes begin). Along the way they run into Cain and Abel, meet Abraham, and spend some time in Gomorrah (as in Sodom and Gomorrah). The two cavemen have to save the village after everyone, including the girls the characters are into, has been captured and sold as slaves in Gomorrah. So how did it do? Opening weekend produced a number four slot, trailing behind movies that were in their third and fourth weeks. Walking into the theater, sitting down with some popcorn ready to laugh, there were expectations matching Mel Brook's "History of the World." The movie in fact follows the theme of "History of the World" by managing to make fun of several Old Testament books from the Bible. Unfortunately, "Year One" fell short (way short) of meeting anything Mel Brooks ever made. The jokes were all vulgar which is tolerable…to a point. "Year One" used them as a crutch it couldn't seem to get rid of. The entire movie revolved around trying to gross the audience out rather than actually being funny. So between the urine, excrement, fart, and sex jokes, they hit every point. And not only did the writers go out of their way to make these jokes, they pushed them to a level of awkwardness I have never experienced in a movie. Aside from the gross, often over-the-top jokes, the comedic timing of this film was awful. When a movie has noticeably long and awkward pauses any chance of laughing is instantly pretty deflated. Jack Black's comedic style and over the top antics have worn thin to a point where watching him is just annoying. Michael Cera can only play that sad little part of the awkward teen for so long before audiences will resent him for it. Overall rating: Three out of ten, and that is because I am feeling generous. And it is sad because the previews, and the potential (oh man the potential) led me to believe it would be a fun movie, which is probably what makes it even worse.