Year One, the Jack Black comedy

Year One (2009): Starring Jack Black, Michael Cera, Oliver Platt, Juno Temple, Olivia Wilde
In the world of comedies, Year One falls somewhere just above the standard Adam Sandler vehicle. The premise is simple, it's a biblical comedy where everyone speaks with modern affectations, or in other words, this is Adam and Eve, Apatow style. Jack Black and Michael Cera star as a pair of cavemen stumbling around from bible scene to bible scene and, let me just warn you, Black does alot of running around and yelling in this movie, and if you are sick of Jack Black at this point, you will probably want to avoid seeing this. Michael Cera is basically playing the kid from "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist", only in a furry loincloth. He wanders around, mumbles and protests to things in his soft spoken manner, providing a gentle yin to Black's raging yang (I know that's from something, but I can't think of what). It's a good pairing, and I think it works for the most part. I'd better correct something I said earlier: when I say "Apatow style", I specifically mean the way the script was written, and the way in which the lines are delivered. However, the bulk of the dialogue is fairly unfunny, or at best innocuous. The movie's true humor lies in it's broad, cartoon-like slapstick, which has more in common with the 3 stooges than "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". And honestly, watching Jack Black flirt with the beautiful slave girl from across the room, you have to imagine he's somehow channeling his inner Curly. Add to this, some pretty decent comedic cameos (David Cross plays Cain to Paul Rudd's Abel, Harold Ramis as Adam, Hank Azaria and McLovin' as Abraham and Isaac) and it's not too shabby. It'll definitely satisfy your inner adolescent boy (if you're into that sort of thing).
2.5 out of 5