"Year One" (opened June 19 throughout San Diego) is a comedy about a guy named Zed (Jack Black) and his best bud Oh (Michael Cera) having horrible lives and going from one problem to another. The girls they like reject them and other males shun and pick on them. They can’t hunt and their society rejects. Zed breaks the community's only rule by eating forbidden fruit and is then kicked out of the village. Oh then joins him on his journey. They meet a lot of people and get in tons of trouble while Zed believes he is the “chosen one” picked by God and ordained to help the people. They almost get killed -- repeatedly. They also meet several people from the Bible and experience a slightly tweaked religious history. Eventually they help bring the downfall of a king and his high priest, end a drought, and win over the hearts of the women they love.
This is definitely a Jack Black film in the sense that absolutely nothing is taken seriously and everything revolves around him. But I didn’t think this movie was as funny as I thought it would be. Some scenes just felt overdone as if the actors were just trying too hard but not getting any laughs. It also had lame stretches where I was just totally bored and didn’t like a lot of scenes because they were just pointless. It wasn’t a complete waste of time though. It did have a couple high points but I just didn’t enjoy the film as a whole. This is the kind of movie that you might want to see once but it's not the kind of movie you will jumping to get the moment you hear its coming out on DVD. You can't watch this over and over. If you are a serious Jack Black enthusiast then you will probably like this movie just for the fact that he acts exactly the same in this movie as he does in all his other movies. So I say you should see this movie at your own risk.
"Year One" is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, brief strong language and comic violence.
