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Year One (2009) More at IMDbPro »

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140 comments in total

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122 out of 180 people found the following comment useful :-
Not worth it, 16 June 2009

Author: brwindsor from United States

The trailer was funnier than the movie. I was somewhat looking forward to seeing this film, and was greatly disappointed when it turned out to be completely awful. There were some funny moments, but they were swallowed up by the sheer stupidity of the rest. I seriously doubt that fans of Black or Cera will be pleased with this film.

I was lucky enough to see this movie at a free pre-screening. That makes me pretty happy, because I would have been distraught if I had to pay $7.50 to sit through this mess. The plot was very contrived, and the historical humour fizzled out after the first twenty minutes. The rest of the movie relied on a myriad of sexual innuendos that were overused and abused. Overall, the movie became very unenjoyable and although there were a few laughs hidden in there, they could not make up for the rest.

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139 out of 226 people found the following comment useful :-
Is the vast majority dead wrong?, 19 June 2009

Author: jalmanzo from United States

Firstly, let me mention that this is my first IMDb post ever and I feel compelled to make this post based on many different things. I went into this movie with no prior knowledge other than a trailer of the movie where michael cera gets berries knocked out of his hands etc. The scene made me laugh and I thought that Jack Black and Cera could be a good pairing for a comedy. I did not know that the movie was directed by Harold Ramis nor that the script was written by Ramis as well as the guys from The Office (all three of whom are comedy geniuses), nor did I know that the movie had been panned by Roger Ebert: the only movie critic whom i actually respect in that we have very similar taste in movies. If I had read the Ebert review (1 star), I probably wouldn't have gone to see the movie but nonetheless I did. There are two kinds of comedy: comedy with a moral to the story and mindless comedy for the sole purpose of making people laugh. This is the latter but it is done to perfection. I'm not going to talk about the movie itself other than to say that the scenes with Oliver Platt and Cera had me laughing as hard as the first half hour of Borat (i.e. I could barely breathe). I'm not claiming that this movie is a classic, in fact I'll admit that there was no real point to the movie and the philosophical bits fell pretty flat but all in all there were many scenes in this movie where Ramis' genius is apparent. I went to the movie to get some laughs and I definitely got my moneys worth. For a quick example of some other comedies which had me leaving a large amount of pee for theatre personnel to mop up later: A Fish Called Wanda,...The Holy Grail, Office Space, Borat, Austin Powers, Happy Gilmore. OK I didn't see most of these in the theatre but you get the point. I can't really say why so many people are panning Year One. My only thought is that they really just don't get the humor. Obviously there is a plentiful supply of people on IMDb that will not like this notion since they couldn't possibly be wrong about anything but in my opinion they are mistaken when it comes to this movie. I have a feeling that people's opinions of this movie will change in time. Is it possible that a pointless cave man comedy could be before its time? I hope this post will get a few more people to watch this movie with an open mind.

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107 out of 173 people found the following comment useful :-
Waste of talent and time, 17 June 2009

Author: Randy-3 from Kansas City

A great number of talented people were involved with this film: writer/director Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day), co-writers Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (The Office), lead actors Jack Black and Michael Cera, supporting actors David Cross and Oliver Platt, and cameo actors Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, and Kyle Gass, just to name a few. And it was produced by Judd Apatow. And yet it goes so terribly wrong. How? You have to go to the source: the script, which is aimless, disjointed, and sadly puerile. If you enjoy unfunny penis jokes and find the digestion of human excrement absolutely hilarious, you might enjoy this movie. I found very few laughs here, and I can't believe the amount of talent squandered on this trainwreck.

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49 out of 80 people found the following comment useful :-
Jack black is... the same character he ALWAYS plays., 20 June 2009

Author: Animus from Hickory, NC

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

OK first things first, I did not go see this voluntarily, I took my girlfriend to see it when we arrived at the theater too late to catch the last showing of "The Proposal". As expected Jack turned is his normal "I can't act, I can just do this one personality" performance. As expected his character is crude, idiotic and believes himself to be a genius Casanova (I dare you to name any character he has played that this does not describe). Micheal Cera whom I am told is an actual actor left me unconvinced. Neither "character" managed to be likable or show any character growth throughout the story, not one inch of growth or shred of wisdom. I suppose its too much to ask when both characters have names that mean "zero". As with most Jack Black films it claims to be comedy but the jokes are old enough to draw social security benefits and the sight gags won't appeal to anyone over the age of 13 or so. To me the funniest moment of the film is when Zed is getting the snot beaten out of him. If you like repetitive jokes and toilet humor, look no further, if you want anything resembling real entertainment, look elsewhere.

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28 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :-
There's not very many horribly bad moments, but at the same time, there's very few funny moments., 25 June 2009

Author: Tommy Nelson from Long Beach, California

From the reviews, this movie seemed like it would be horribly bad, and full of annoying cringe worthy moments, but this is not true at all. Actually, despite a lazy script full of nonstop crude and sex jokes, and moments that could be really awful, this movie is above the very low bar. Jack Black and Michael Cera take this bad material and make something mediocre out of it, which still isn't saying much.

Zed (Jack Black) is a gatherer who tries to fit in with the hunter clan, but he's just too silly for their tastes. Oh (Michael Cera) is also a gatherer and is a somewhat unpopular with the ladies. After an accident involving fire, this mismatched pair has to leave and they do through various pieces of biblical history, including meeting Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd), and meeting Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Abraham (Hank Azaria), who apparently had a thing for cutting foreskin. The movie is a hodge podge of scenes thrown together with very little plot, but by the end Zed and Oh have to save the lives of two girls from their village.

Jack Black and Michael Cera are pretty good here. Jack Black does his typical over the top stoner performance and Michael Cera gives the emotional boy performance. Even David Cross and Oliver Platt manage to squeeze some laughs out of their performances. But nobody really has a lot of material to work with, though at the same time the material isn't the worst out there. It's bad, and oftentimes relies on some outwardly sexual material. In fact, this is the least subtle PG-13 rated film I've seen where sexual or crude jokes are involved. This includes scenes of eating poop and throwing testicles. If something sexual happens, it's not only just implied, but it's flaunted.

One big problem is the lack of plot in the movie. It grows boring going from setpiece to setpiece, never establishing a real plot until the end, and despite being only around 100 minutes, it still feels way too long. The climax is ridiculous and quite boring, and this movie is too filled with scenes that aren't particularly horrible, but they aren't particularly funny, and all too often this movie is just a laugh free staring at the screen. It managed to attain quite consistent mediocrity, with some chuckles every once in a while. It wasn't horrible, it just wasn't good either, by any means.

My rating: ** out of ****. 105 mins. PG-13 for crude sexual humor, drug use, and language.

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116 out of 216 people found the following comment useful :-
Year One is painfully awful... I'm not kidding, this movie physically hurt!, 20 June 2009

Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois

Jack Black and Michael Cera playing themselves, yeah, where was that even considered funny? Now I absolutely adore these actors, Michael was a great choice in Superbad and Juno and Jack Black has proved he can do great comedy like Tropic Thunder and a good dramatic role like King Kong, even a more calm character like he played in The Holiday. But the main problem? They have no chemistry! You have this wild outgoing maniac who is eating poop(eeeew!) and the calm awkward overly shy nerd who pees on himself(eeew!) and what do you have? Every elementary school joke that could be put into a movie, Year One could have been written by a five year old and proves that top list actors will do anything for those millions that they make.

Jack Black and Michael Cera headline Harold Ramis' Biblical comedy about a pair of misfit hunter-gatherers who embark on a wild journey through the ancient world after being banished from their primitive village. Zed and Oh may lack in the skills that their chieftain is looking for, but they have plans to make it big. Zed has a gut feeling that God has "chosen" him, and so he leads his buddy on a trip through the unknown countryside in search of bigger and better things, bumping into several weird characters along the way -- like a feuding pair of brothers named Cain and Abel. Unfortunately, their quest for greatness hits a few snags, like being sold into slavery, and later becoming the object of interest to a very amorous, very hairy high priest in the opulent city of Sodom.

You have to understand, I wanted to love this movie, from the minute that I saw the trailer, I thought this was going to be such a great movie, but once again they showed all the funny parts in the trailer. During the movie I fell asleep and my boyfriend tried to wake me up and I said "OMG, I was dreaming that I was watching this movie where Jack Black and Michael Cera think that they're funny… oh, no, just let me sleep". Seriously, this movie was beyond painfully bad, I don't understand how anybody could find this kind of humor funny. Year One has everything that should equal a good comedy and that was the funny cast, but thanks to the bad direction and awful concept, Year One falls completely flat. Stay as far away from this trash as you can, this film should be used only to torture possible terrorists into telling the US where they hide their nuclear weapons.

1/10

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55 out of 95 people found the following comment useful :-
If you're looking for Superbad, don't look here., 19 June 2009

Author: cheer_chick90 from Canada

This movie was not quite terrible, but not really funny either. The first half of the movie was not funny, and when it finally did get funny the movie was almost over.

Jack Black is sometimes painful to watch, but Michael Cera makes it bearable. The other characters are minor, and do not in anyway, help move the plot or laughs along.

All of the funny parts are in the trailer for the movie. So, if you're looking for something as funny as Superbad, Knocked Up, The Hangover etc., do not waste your money seeing this in the movie theatre; just rent it when it comes out.

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42 out of 71 people found the following comment useful :-
Not Very Funny, 19 June 2009
Author: maximroy from Canada

As a fan of most of Jack Black's work so far (at least the non Tenacious D stuff that is in comedy) and a fan of Michael Cera's great straight man work on Arrested Development and Superbad, I was very disappointed in this film. It is a great premise for a movie but it fails to deliver many laughs, it is basically one of those "all the funny parts are in the trailer" movies and was I think a really wasted opportunity for what could have been a very funny film. Jack Black is okay doing his usual act and Michael Cera is very good in his typical straight man role but the laughs don't exactly come flowing through. There are a couple of very good cameo appearances in the movie, I don't want to spoil the surprise, and they help to make up for the overall poor quality of the rest of the film. Worth seeing probably but definitely not at the movies for $12.

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35 out of 62 people found the following comment useful :-
Hilarious, 21 June 2009

Author: amunetpallaton from United States

My husband and I just got back from watching this movie, and I thought it was hilarious.

I like movies that don't take themselves too seriously, and this is definitely a movie like that. It looked like everyone had fun making a silly film. And I know everyone in the theater was laughing throughout it.

There are parts that try to drag a joke out for a little too long, but overall, I thought the humor was simple, effective, and very well executed.

Michael Cera was definitely the shining star in this movie. He delivers awkward comedy SO well and just so believable and likable. He is a fantastic actor.

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13 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Correction about 'Year One', 27 July 2009

Author: weaverosu from United States

So, I see that some of you did not like the movie year one?! I must ask, are you a Christian or have a religious faith belief that has led your subconscious mind to override your conscious mind and dislike a movie far ahead of all others? I mean come on, this movie was a brilliant masterpiece of epic proportions. The fact that they played themselves makes it even more hilarious. It's a comedy you fools! If you didn't understand this - well then - you're probably not as much of a cerebral stud as I and all those that did understand the actor portrayal of themselves.

And for all you bible bang-ers out there that understand the bible, the movie was pretty spot on with some of the bibles lessons. What I'm saying is, this movie added a visual element to the bible and illustrated the out right utter nonsense the bible, and the religious folk, pushes.

So I will leave you with a quote from Gandhi - "There are as many religions as there are people"

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