[Year One has] some very funny moments but not enough of them.
Comment
06/22/09
Year One (2009)
19
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:5
Rotten:21
Average Rating:4/10
Consensus: Year One is a poorly executed, slapdash comedy in which the talent both in front of and behind the camera never seem to be on the same page.
Theatrical Release:Jun 19, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $43,337,279
Synopsis: When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers (Jack Black and Michael Cera) are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world in Columbia Pictures'... [More]
Starring: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Oliver Platt, David Cross
Director: Harold Ramis
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Reviews for Year One
Top CriticThis is a significant notch below the great Monty Python films that tackled religion with intelligence and wit.
06/22/09
Top CriticYear One is nowhere near as funny as the ancient-civilization movies I saw in high school: Life of Brian, History of the World Part I, Caligula. Its script isn't worth the papyrus it's inscribed on.
06/19/09
Top CriticHas neither wit nor wisdom nor charm nor beauty.
06/19/09
Top CriticThere is plenty of lowbrow, knuckle-dragging humor; coupled with all the gay jokes, poop jokes, Jewish jokes and you're-stupider-than-I-am jokes, the arrested-development crowd will no doubt be thoroughly entertained.
06/19/09
Top CriticAn inexplicably unfunny comedy made by two people who have proven they can do much better: director/co-writer Harold Ramis and co-producer Judd Apatow.
06/19/09
Top CriticIt ambles along uncertainly, hobbled by the lack of chemistry between its two lead actors, and by gags that either try too hard or suffer from being barely there.
06/19/09
Top CriticBlack and Cera posed in cave-man outfits for an amusing poster. Then the movie was brought forth and things went downhill.
06/19/09
Top CriticYear One has one joke, but it's a good one, played for many variations over the course of an often very funny comedy.
06/19/09
Top CriticYear One is a good short skit drawn out far, far too long, another big, dumb offering to the summer movie gods that is unlikely to appease or please anyone.
06/19/09
Top CriticA thoroughly, sometimes gaggingly broad and sly conceptual laugh-in.
06/19/09
Top CriticLet's start with the praise because there won't be much: As comedy pairings go, you could do a lot worse than Jack Black and Michael Cera.
06/19/09
Top CriticSomehow, despite the presence of those reliable actors and the highly advanced skills of comic veterans Harold Ramis and Judd Apatow behind the scenes, Year One manages to be a dud.
06/19/09
Top CriticThe jokes are so laden with groaners you almost expect to hear rim shots after every line.
06/19/09
Top CriticA lowbrow, only fitfully amusing comedy.
06/18/09
Top CriticIf you can't take this premise and these actors and come up with anything funnier than Jack Black eating poop, then you have no business making comedies.
06/18/09
Top CriticYear One is scattershot and silly, squandering its potential by relying on juvenile bawdy humor.
06/18/09
Top CriticOn paper, Ramis and producer Apatow set themselves up for success: The cast is a who's who of funnymen. Unfortunately, the script doesn't give them a whole lot to work with.
06/18/09
Top CriticYear One is a dreary experience, and all the ending accomplishes is to bring it to a close. Even in the credit cookies, you don't sense the actors having much fun.
06/18/09
Top CriticAny good will the movie generates is grated right back off by Black, whose obnoxiousness has lost whatever charm it once possessed.
06/18/09
Top CriticLatest News for Year One
June 20, 2009:
Crude cavemen encounter Biblical events in raunchy road comedy. 
More...
June 19, 2009:
The Friday Harvest: This Week's Best Pictures, Posters, and Video
Happy Friday Harvest, a weekly round-up of the best pictures, posters, and videos that have become available for viewing/download on Rotten Tomatoes. Each section features the... More...
June 18, 2009:
Black's biggest idiot in the village, overly flirty heathen turned moronic messiah tries to hunt and gather copious hairy bodied babes who really know how to stroke their spears, while a shackled Cera pees upside down through his collar.
More...
June 18, 2009:
Box Office Guru Preview: Proposal and Year One Bring More Laughs
Five of the top six films are comedies right now but Hollywood believes that's not enough so two new laughers open on Friday to give moviegoers even more options. Sandra Bullock... More...
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