The Category is Summer Movies
Answer: “Year One”
The Question: Name the movie that is written and directed by Harold Ramis (of “Ghostbusters” and “Stripes” fame), co-produced by Judd Apatow (of “40 Year-old Virgin” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” fame), and stars Jack Black, Michael Cera, Oliver Platt, David Cross, and Hank Azaria.
With talent such as the names I listed above you’d expect “Year One” to be a very funny comedy with non-stop laughs and gut splitting moments. The sad truth is you get a movie that has zero potential, characters we’ve seen before in other movies, and one long running flat joke that never gets any life. I don’t care what other say, I’m going on record as saying that “Year One” is a very lose and poor remake of Mel Brooks 1981 movie entitled “History of the World: Part I”. Where Mel Brooks was able to have top talent (for that time) and a good script, Ramis and Apatow manage to fall flat on their faces with poor casting and a poor script to work with. “Year One” is a poor excuse of a movie that never delivers any sort of plot as you are constantly reminded of other movies while watching this one.
Lets start with the two main stars of “Year One.”
Jack Black plays Zed who is an overweight, whimsical, can’t do anything right, kind of guy. He’s doing a job that he isn’t cut out for, that job is being a Hunter for the tribe he is part of, and would rather be off doing greater things. He eats from the Tree of Knowledge, is banned from the village, and goes on to become the chosen one. Through the whole movie you watch as Zed bumbles his way from one situation to another and manages to get out of said situation by being clumsy or happened to be in the right place at the right time. Does this character sound like one we saw last Summer? It should as Zed is a live action Kung Fu Panda and both Zed and Panda have similar situations that make them the chose one and help them out at the end. All that was missing was Zed grabbing the main bad guy’s finger and saying “Kadoosh”.
Michael Cera plays Oh who is a skinny, shy, and is not appreciated by the tribe. He likes Zed’s sister Emma (played by the very cute Juno Temple) who doesn’t even acknowledged him when he speaks to her. Sad to say that Oh is the comic relief to Zed and all the bad things happen to Oh while Zed stands by. Does this character sound like one we’ve seen before? It should as Oh is Evan from “Superbad” and just like Evan, he has no balls and is a whinny, wimpy guy that gets pushed over by everyone.
Now onto some of the secondary cast. Oliver Platt plays the High Priest who is the mystical predictor for the King played by Xander Berkley. The High Priest is nowhere as funny as Dom DeLuise’s Emperor Nero in “History of the Wold.” But they are basically the same character. Vinnie Jones plays Sargon, the captain of the Roman Guards. The problem here is that it looks as if they really wanted Clive Owens to play this role as Vinnie is made up to look like Clive Owens. Don’t even get me started on Issac, son of Abraham, being played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse better known as McLovin from “Superbad.” In this movie Issac is McLovin or McLovin is Issac…again it is an actor playing the same character from another movie but with a different set of clothes.
The plot, if you call it that as I sure can’t, is simple…Zed and Oh get forced out of their village because Zed ate from the Tree of Knowledge which is forbidden. During their journey they run into historical biblical figures such as Cain and Able, Abraham and his son Issac, and visit the city of Sodomon. One running joke is that Cain is one step ahead of them after killing his brother Able and both Zed and Oh keep running into him at every stop along the way.
The funniest part of “Year One” didn’t happen anywhere in the movie. It was the bloopers shown at the start of the credits that most of the audience was laughing at. All this talent and we get a movie that falls flat on its face fast.
Rating: 
