YEAR ONE

title: YEAR ONE

year: 2009

cast: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Oliver Platt, Harold Ramis, Hank Azaria

director: Harold Ramis

rating: **

Thought this was gonna be a caveman movie - turns out it's a biblical satire centering on cavemen but the parody partakes on the Tree of Knowledge, Cain and Abel, Abraham's sacrifice, and Sodom & Gomorah. Having heard such awful things I was expecting much worse. The characters were like college slacker/virgin/losers who can't get girls or any respect, but with loin cloths. Jack Black is Jack Black without any really funny lines but his blunt delivery sometimes works as he counters elfin-androgynous Michael Cera's Emo-passive humor. This is the polar opposite of a date flick: full of gorgeous babes, unattractive and/or nerdy men, and raunchy humor. Director Harold Ramis (providing a cameo as Cain's father) has pretty much lost his touch but believe it or not he's done worse ("Stuart Saves His Family" ring a bell?). As bad as the story is, the characters become so involved within it, you can't help but be somewhat entertained by the spectacle.