Year One

This film is unbelievably bad, especially considering the talent that is involved. Director Harold Ramis, the director who gave us the classics Caddyshack and Groundhog Day, gets almost no laughter out of this lame premise. A never-been-worse Jack Black and Michael Cera star as a hunter and a gatherer, respectively, expelled from their village. They go on a journey and bump into such biblical figures as Adam, his sons Cain and Abel, and the son-sacrificing Abraham. Never mind that these characters did not occupy Earth at the same time; that little error would be forgivable if the movie offered some chuckles. Instead, you get Black doing his usual manic act, with Cera mumbling a lot. The great David Cross gets a laugh or two as the murderous Cain, but even he looks like he’s laboring. It’s tragic to see a great comic director founder like this, and it’s sad to see Black fail so miserably. This is one of the year’s biggest disappointments.