The Jack Black/Michael Cera vehicle Year One is something of a curiosity: it seems to be a spoof of movies like Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 B.C., but it has fewer laughs and probably a more authentic period setting.

Given that it is not, in fact, unpleasant to watch, should I judge it on its merits as a comedy or rather assess its value as an unusually lighthearted historical epic? Since people will be renting this expecting a few good laughs, I admit that I did chuckle a few times, at least watching the unrated version. I’m almost embarrassed to say that the first time came about 20 or so minutes in, when Black finds animal droppings and starts tasting them, ostensibly to prove he is a skilled tracker.

Though the real laughs were few and far between for me, I should stress that at no point did I truly dislike this movie. It plods along pleasantly enough, and even has a fair number of decent one-liners, mostly from Cera, but his softspoken delivery doesn’t gel with the rest of the cast’s scattered comedic timing. Make no mistake, this is no Life of Brian or even History of the World Part 1. – [DVD]

Adventure/Comedy

Rated PG-13

Director: Harold Ramis

DVD Release Date: 10/6/09

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