Movie Reviews: Year One
June 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Movie News
Humor as fresh today as it was in B.C.
Evangelicals might take one look at ancestors Zed (Jack Black) and Oh (Michael Cera) and decide they’d rather descend from monkeys. Harold Ramis’ comedy is more evolved than the trailers let on, but after a solid hit to the popcorn audience’s vestigial funny bone, the humor retreats into a lazy, generic swamp. Weekend returns should be respectable, but few will excavate it for a second go-round on DVD.
Jack Black’s caveman is as primitive as his usual meatheads, his hair and eyes still wild, his social graces still equal to a stray dog. Here, however, he matches—not clashes—with his surrounding culture, and it’s Michael Cera who can’t get with the program of jackal dances and clubbing crush Eema (Juno Temple) on the head. Cera, too, is the same as ever. He speaks haltingly, adding unexpected pauses to his sentences like a gentle Christopher Walken—he’s so sweet, he talks to berries. But his Oh is harder to please than Cera’s usual virginal ingénues, and after Zed eats the forbidden fruit and gets them expelled from their jungle village, his resentment is a nice sour jolt.
The first half of Ramis and co-screenwriters Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg’s script has fun riffing off Biblical lore and caveman minds. Black charms his love Maya (June Diane Raphael) by making fun of how her parents were torn apart by a pack of wild dogs, and wives and sisters are offered around like after dinner mints. We meet Adam and Eve (Ramis and Rhoda Griffis), Cain and Abel (David Cross and Paul Rudd), Abraham and Isaac (Hank Azaria and Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and watch Zed and Oh get motion sick from the five-mile-an-hour speeds of an ox-drawn cart.
Once the duo makes their way to Sodom to save Maya and Eema from slavery and hellfire, the humor regresses to swords and sandals slapstick with a cheap and lame overdose of gay panic gags. (Threats to Black and Cera’s posterior or package outnumber actual jokes 2:1.) Chief among the many, many examples of frat humor are Kyle Gass as palace eunuch Zaftig and Oliver Platt’s High Priest, a hairy, horny homosexual letch who takes his makeup tips from that other Christian legend, Tammy Faye Baker. Here, Ramis, the comedy king of Groundhog Day, is slumming. And I’m surprised an off-kilter talent like Cera would indulge him, swallowing his gag reflex when Platt commands him to rub his chest with oil. The last time that joke felt fresh was B.C. It clashes with the script’s closing bold moves, questioning the existence of God and floating the theory that each of us are responsible for our own destiny. I’d like Ramis’ religion more if it didn’t overlap with the Prop 8 fear mongers.
Distributor: Columbia
Cast: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Olivia Wilde, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Oliver Platt, David Cross, Vinnie Jones, Juno Temple
Director: Harold Ramis
Writers: Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky, and Harold Ramis
Producers: Judd Apatow, Clayton Townsend and Nicholas Weinstock
Genre: Comedy
Rating: Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, brief strong language and comic violence.
Running time: 100 min
Release date: June 19, 2009
Source: Boxoffice
Movie Reviews 2: Yer One
If anything, watching Year One is like playing a great big game of What Could Have Been. The most obvious version of the game is to take a look at the cast and the writing talent and wonder where all of it went – like a mega-budget movie that has terrible FX. But the large amount of talent is probably the biggest downfall for the movie because, despite a giant list of names attached, very few of them have comedic styles that blend together well (or at all), and it leaves the movie feeling flat and uninteresting.
Two inept hunter/gatherers (Jack Black’s Zed and Michael Cera’s Oh) are kicked out of their tribe for eating the forbidden fruit and decide to wander the early world in search of Zed’s destiny, to encounter the strange inhabitants of other civilizations, and to find the women that they want to hit over the head with a club and drag back to the cave.
Front and center in the movie are Jack Black and Michael Cera – a comedy pairing that just does not work. Black’s humor is so in-your-face and Cera’s is so out-of-your-face that the two never seem to meet in the middle. It probably sounded like a great idea on paper, but it falls flat on the screen. It’s essentially Black playing Black playing a caveman (that looks and talks suspiciously like Jack Black) while Michael Cera continues the same wussy-boy straight man concept that only worked in “Arrested Development” because it came in small doses.
Normally, having two leads that have no chemistry and can’t make the jokes work would cripple a film, but the movie has a crutch in the form of its supporting cast. A crutch that they rely so heavily upon that it made me wonder if director Harold Ramis realized his casting mistake early on. He does a fantastic job himself playing a version of Adam (yes, the first man ever) that’s understated and works, Hank Azaria has a great turn as a version of Abraham that seems oddly obsessed with foreskins, and David Cross (in probably his biggest role ever) is fantastic as the ever-wavering Cain who continues to help and betray the heroes along the way. Juno Temple and June Diane Raphael as the two love interests are passable, but Olivia Wilde is the true strong female presence in the flick as a Princess wishing to spread the wealth amongst the people of Sodom.
The real stand out is definitely Oliver Platt who steals every single scene he’s in. His character, the High Priest, is essentially a real-life version of Hedonism-Bot (or a reincarnation of Dom Deluise’s Caesar in History of the World Part I). It might simply be the juxtaposition of seeing a well-rounded actor playing such a ridiculous role, but even so, he goes above and beyond the call of duty to create a character that’s as flamboyantly absurd as what the costume designer dressed him in. His character is one of the high marks of the film, and it seems like (once again) Ramis realized this based on how much screen time Platt gets.
Which comes to the second round of What Could Have Been. I can’t help but wonder what this movie could have been like if Ramis had gotten to make it with the usual gang of idiots from the 1980s. What if it had been him alongside Bill Murray as crazy cavemen trying to impress the ladies and avoid getting stoned to death? It’s probably an unfair comparison, but it is an interesting thought considering that so much of the humor is based on a style of comedy popularized by Mel Brooks and carried into the 1980s by Ramis and his pals. Unfortunately, it’s a style that doesn’t blend well with the current style.
For example – the story. It’s actually a fairly interesting one, featuring a couple of outcasts (a classic devil-may-care screw up and a classic reluctant adventurer) that see the women they love enslaved and journey into odd lands, meeting odd people and getting into trouble. Of course, there’s a sense of urgency in the story from time to time, but it’s never genuine trouble. That’s perfect for a comedy like this where there shouldn’t be any real consequences for any of the situations. People’s lives are in danger, but that’s always going to be played for laughs.
Unfortunately, the scenarios are all so subdued that it doesn’t quite reach the pitch of absurdity needed to make something like this work. Putting aside the fact that Black and Cera don’t have the charm to pull something like that off, the scenes appear like they were written to be just strange enough to get a chuckle, but never absurd enough to force half the audience to bust out laughing while the other half sits wondering what’s so funny. It’s raunchy, but not nearly raunchy enough to rely on. It’s uncomfortable, but never truly absurd. It’s clever, but never really genius.
A few scenes will force some audible laughs – almost anytime the High Priest is paired with Oh, the scenes that already made you laugh from the trailer, and a scene where Oh is forced to pee while hanging upside down – but most of the jokes will warrant a small smile, like you do when your grandfather tells you a joke that was a real side-splitter back in his day. It’s not that an older style of humor isn’t still funny, it’s the personnel involved can’t make it work.
Overall, the film makes for the most average comedy audiences might see all year. It’s got a ton of name-recognition from the comedy world to draw you in, but ultimately the film steps up to the plate, points the bat at midfield, and cracks the ball directly to it. Which is unfortunate, because it might have been cool to see what might have been if this film swung for the fences.
Source: Film School Rejects
Movie Reviews 3: Yer One
“Don’t waste your time”
Year One goes back almost to the start of time. You know, back before there was laughter. And while Zed (Jack Black) and Oh (Michael Cera) learn all sorts of new things on their travels – like what wheels are and the definition of circumcision – they never really learn how to entertain an audience.
It’s quite a struggle to try and wrap one’s head around the plot of Year One, because it’s like trying to find logic in dribble, structure in chaos, or humor in crap. Granted, there is a scene where Zed eats crap, but there’s no humor in it (just some berries). Nor is it funny when Oh pees on his own face. Or when he has to rub oil into the High Priest’s (Oliver Platt) hirsute, distended belly. Or when Cain (Arrested Development’s David Cross) beats Abel (Paul Rudd) to death.
Were one to attempt a description, it might be safe to say that Year One follows two early losers through too many loosely related skits where they encounter all sorts of mishaps. After getting kicked out of their village, the two wander until they end up in Sodom, endless sodomy references ensue, and find themselves on the wrong side of the king (great, now I’m making my own sodomy jokes). In their attempts to impress women, Zed and Oh find their masculine sides and actually discover they aren’t losers.
But really they are.
Directed by Harold Ramis, who shares writing credits with Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, the film is a meandering series of dumb and dumber scenes that never learn from past mistakes. For example, every possible bodily function joke is tried, but they all reek. The whole Cain and Abel bit, which barely sustains one scene, is stretched through the entire film with Cross popping up at unexpected moments. After the hundredth time a joke fell flat, I started praying for fire and brimstone to destroy Sodom and just end the damn thing.
Cera’s shtick is the same as always, he’s just wearing a bad wig now. He stammers, he mutters dejectedly under his breath, and he tries to woo the girl by gyrating uncontrollably in his loin cloth. In a movie filled with uncomfortable moments, this image stands out. If you haven’t OD’ed on this persona yet, you may be able to stomach the performance. But what was once cute and endearing is now rote and feels old and tired.
Black, on the other hand, jumped over cute and endearing and went straight to old and tired. Zed is a bumbling idiot, but Black doesn’t make you like him or even laugh at him.
If Tropic Thunder hasn’t been released yet, they could have used footage from Year One as an example of the horrible, sell-out films the actors make just to score a quick buck. There are certainly enough excrement jokes to make the substitution possible. Running around in his loin cloth (not pretty) Black makes you want to join the mob trying to stone Zed to death.
Perhaps the oddest character in this weird ensemble is Platt’s High Priest. He plays the role as an odd homo that’s wildly flamboyant, caked in make-up, and who leers over the young, barely-developed Cera. When Oh starts to rub oil into the High Priest’s belly hair, it’s a perfect time for a bathroom break. Trust me, you’ll be nauseous.
Everything about Year One just feels cheap. From the sets, to the costumes, to the jokes, it’s bargain basement material. Don’t waste your time, because in no uncertain terms, Year One is one to skip this year.
SOurce: Popscorn
Movie Reviews 4: Yer One
Year One’ stars Jack Black, Michael Cera
“Year One” is more or less indefensible, but I’ll gladly defend parts of it. It’s the knockabout biblical lark Mel Brooks never got around to making, with Jack Black and Michael Cera playing Zed and Oh, outcast members of a Paleolithic tribal village whose wanderings bring them into contact with Cain and Abel and Abraham and Isaac and Sodom and Gomorrah and poop jokes and pee jokes and some pretty funny circumcision jokes. “What’s with all the genital mutilation?” asks Oh, a sensitive gatherer (as opposed to hunter), upon hearing the circumcision action plan put forth by Hank Azaria’s Abraham. Don’t worry, the bearded one says. “It’s a very sleek look.”
The director and co-writer is Harold Ramis, who was presented Tuesday night at the Music Box Theatre with a TBS “Just For Laughs” lifetime achievement award. The weather was lousy but the warmth inside the theater made up for it. From the stage, hometown comedy hero Ramis thanked former Chicago Tribune theater critic Richard Christiansen, among others, for early support of his career. It means a lot, Ramis said, smiling, “to know that our old work is still being appreciated.”
“Year One,” to be clear, won’t join his list of essential comedies, the ones Ramis helped create as writer, director, performer or combination thereof. At this point we needn’t re-emphasize the hardy, very different glories of “Animal House” and “Groundhog Day,” but let us not forget the easygoing service-comedy appeal of “Stripes,” which holds up mysteriously well. Or Ramis’ weirdest characterizations on the old, deathless “SCTV.” Or his Zen-like turn in “Knocked Up.”
Ramis’ challenge in “Year One,” which he wrote with Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, is to keep the vibe loose while delivering the laughs. They come in fits and starts. Much of the film takes place in Sodom, which means plenty of gags about sodomy. In what might be called the P.J. Soles and Sean Young “Stripes Goes to Sodom” roles, June Raphael and Juno Temple play a couple of the boys’ fellow villagers, now slaves, who need rescuing. Oliver Platt minces through the role of a high priest with copious chest hair and an eye for the young men. David Cross, whom I have yet to find funny in a movie, takes up an undue amount of screen time as Cain, dispatcher of Paul Rudd’s Abel and the best frenemy Zed and Oh could ever have.
Hit and miss doesn’t begin to describe it. Cera’s deft, improvisatory underplaying is an asset, however, as is Azaria’s George C. Scott impression. “Year One” feels anachronistic in many different ways (it’ll bring back hazy memories of everything from “Life of Brian” on the higher end, to “Wholly Moses!” on the lower). A lot of it’s wince-worthy. And then, just when you’re about to give up on it, Ramis and company toss off some stupid, stupid joke and, against the Lord’s wishes, you laugh.
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for crude and sexual content throughout, brief strong language and comic violence)
Running time: 1:40.
Starring: Jack Black (Zed); Michael Cera (Oh); Oliver Platt (High Priest); David Cross (Cain); Hank Azaria (Abraham)
Directed by: Harold Ramis; written by Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg; produced by Ramis, Judd Apatow and Clayton Townsend. A Columbia Pictures release.
