Cast: Jack Black, Michael Cera, David Cross, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Olivia Wilde; Director: Harold Ramis; Producers: Judd Apatow, Clayton Townsend; Screenwriters: Harold Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky; Music: Theodore Shapiro; Editor: Craig Herring, Steve Welch; Genre: Comedy; Cinematography: Alar Kivilo; Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment; Location: USA; Running Time: 100 min.;Technical Assessment: 2.5
Moral Assessment: 1
CINEMA Rating: For mature viewers 18 and above
Caveman Zed (Jack Black) is his tribe’s greatest liability. He is banished from his community when he decides to prove his love for Maya and eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. As he leaves his tribe, he is joined by the effeminate fruit gatherer Oh (Michael Cera) who secretly hates his role and wishes to start a new life with Eema (Juno Temple).They trek to the mountains and intertwine their presence with Biblical stories of Genesis amidst a more advance and progressive society. Zed and Oh meet the squabbling Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd) and witness the murder of the latter. They discover the girls they wanted to sleep with have been sold to slavery and devised a plan to save them. However, they end up being sold by Cain into slavery and are force to march across the desert with the Roman soldiers with funny accents. They escape the Roman soldiers and end up a few seconds before Abraham (Hank Azaria) sacrifices Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). After they successfully stop Abraham from killing his own son, they are taken with him and introduced to the Hebrew culture of circumcision. Naturally, several scenes are devoted to build on jokes and poke fun at the tradition. Zed, now believing that God has chosen him for a special task, travel to the City of Sodom where they meet Cain once more and a Sodomite priest has taken a liking to Oh. Is Zed really the chosen one and will they be able to save Maya and Eema from slavery?
Year One is an attempt to spoof the stories of Genesis without the historical accuracy or the literary aptitude. Why a cave-dwelling society will coexist with the Roman Empire is completely ridiculous. The writers seem to just have leafed through Genesis with a lot of crude jokes and language in mind for a movie. Black is as annoying as he is in every other one of his movies and fails to immerse himself into the supposed character. Cera is as bland as he is in every other one of his movies and fails to be more than a guy in costume. Because this is a comedy, we can overlook the inaccuracies of the plot. But the confusion and weakness of its development is unforgivable. On the other hand, the technical aspect is satisfactory and the production almost impressive. However, these cannot make up for the shortcomings of the narrative.
It is very uncomfortable to watch a spoof of the Bible; worse that the spoof is laden with crude language, sexual references and toilet humor. Not that Christians are prude cannot take a joke but there are certain things that deserve reverence even if one wishes to poke fun at it. Year One could have chosen a different treatment and achieved a better product instead of taking the shortcut with its low-brow comedy. The ending of the movie tries to argue about one’s destiny and role in God’s master plan. It emphasizes that each one, at the end of the day, is the captains of their own lives because God has given them freewill to decide and choose. However, devoting a few last scenes to suddenly moralize several insensitive and repulsive scenes will not be enough for a movie to deserve an audience. At least an audience with enough decency to choose what is good for their children and even their own entertainment.
