Review: Year One

Jun 26 2009 by Aranda Garrard, The Journal

WHAT do you call a comedy without a single laugh? The punchline is: Harold Ramis’s ramshackle road movie through the Paleolithic era headlined by Jack Black and Michael Cera, two of the most gifted comic actors of their generations.

Black is an unstoppable force of nature, who brought his nervous energy to light up High Fidelity, The School Of Rock and Kung Fu Panda.

Cera adopts a more laidback, laconic delivery that perfectly suited Juno and Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

But put the actors side-by-side in Year One as hunter-gatherers with a nose for adventure, and the results are painful.

“The upside-down prisoner has to pee,” whimpers Cera as urine trickles over his face and into his mouth in a throwaway scene that perfectly encapsulates the sophistication and artistry of Ramis’s vision.

Pelt-clad primitives Zed (Black) and Oh (Cera), whose objects of affection are alpha-female Maya and Eema, are incompetent and lazy in their village.

Banished from the tribe, they embark on a quest of self-discovery through an ancient world riddled with danger.

En route, they encounter wondrous creations, such as the wheel, and colourful characters, and unexpectedly find courage and determination in the face of adversity in time to save Maya and Eema from sacrifice.

Producer extraordinaire Judd Apatow’s winning streak comes to an inglorious end with this film.