Caffeinated Clint
By Ashley Hillard
I can’t wait til Judd Apatow’s reign of ”stupid humor” is over — and, if this one’s anything to go by, the time could be near. Not that “Year One” is a bad film, it isn’t, and in fact it encompasses some great laughs, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not a disappointing and rather insipid bit of celluloid. With each new film he does, Apatow’s appeal and ostensibly, ability to entertain in spades, wanes. This is undoubtedly one of his – and director Harold Ramis’s – weaker efforts.
Producer Apatow, and director Ramis (”Animal House” and a host of other classic comedies) miss the mark with this overly long and annoyingly predictable comedy about a time when cavemen left the Forrest to mingle with Biblical characters. Sounds like an interesting premise… and it is, for about 30 mins.
But maybe if the leads had been better too this thing might have had more pop. Jack Black, Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse are as plain as Vanilla Ice Cream here. They’re not even trying to do anything new. They’re simply playing the same characters they’ve played in their previous films – which is actually rather ironic since the three play Cavemen here, something new to all three of them. C’mon guys! show us a new trick!
Set in Biblical times, the flick tells of two moronic cavemen, who leave their village after Zed (Jack Black) eats from the forbidden tree of knowledge. His frienemy Oh (Michael Cera) joins Zed on the quest to the “edge of the world” after Zed accidentally lights the village on fire and Oh loses everything. The two encounter Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd) and there is an awkward murder scene reminiscent of the, er, unfunny violent scenes (remember those?) in ”Pineapple Express” (I’m not a prude about violence – it can be funny sometimes, but it needs to be done right and in both films that wasn’t the case). So, Zed and Oh discover that the world does in fact go on beyond the mountain range surrounding their village and they cross paths again and again with Cain, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.
The pair also come across Abraham (Hank Azaria, who is fantastic) and Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). After managing to avoid getting circumcised, they then travel on to the ancient version of Vegas, Sodom.
Azaria is so talented, a truly great comedic actor that can slip into almost any role and make it interesting, his scenes are a high point in this film.
There are several funny moments in the film, including some gross out scenes, and Jack Black fans will probably be pleased by his performance, he is consistent. I have heard that Michael Cera is holding out on the Arrested Development film because he doesn’t want to be limited by that role. If it’s true, newsflash!, you always play that character – don’t hold up production on what promises to be a great comedy because you think you have range.
No surprises in this film, including the subplot with the love interests. The beautiful Jenna Jameson look-a-like Princess Inanna (Olivia Wilde) is the temptress as Zed and Oh try to save their women from slavery. Oh loves Eema (Juno Temple) who he awkwardly pursues and tries to seduce, even clubbing her at one point. Temple has a great look and her scenes with Cera are some of the funnier ones in the film.
Overall, if “The Hangover” is sold out, “Year One” is worth seeing, but don’t expect any surprises.
