"Year One" is in many ways a commentary on the issue of creation versus evolution.
The two main characters, Zed (Jack Black) and Oh (Michael Cera), are cavemen, hunter-gathers who are particularly bad at their jobs, get picked on by the other cavemen, and can't score the babes, but on the plus side they speak perfect English and even know more than their share of modern euphemisms (some adapted to their times, others not).
It's like a "Flintstones" prequel, but without all the dinosaur jokes.
Except it's not. Indeed Black and Cera might be the ideal candidates as Fred and Barney in a modern retelling of the modern stone-age family, but don't get any ideas, Hollywood.
When Zed and Oh are expelled from their village, the film becomes an oddball Bible story, where they influence and sometimes rewrite Biblical stories.
The first people they encounter are Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd), an inspired duo whose bit dies a horrible death, as does Abel. Cain ends up fleeing with Zed and Oh, and they embark on a journey that includes Abraham (Hank Azaria), just as he's about to sacrifice his son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, aka McLovin from "Superbad"), and a trip to Sodom.
If all of this sounds like a great premise for a comedy, you're right, because it could have been. Unfortunately, we're inundated with unfunny poop-eating gross-out humor that is out of place in a film that should be more "Monty Python" than "Harold and Kumar."
The best bits are when they stop and question the things going on around them. When they interrupt Abraham about to plunge a knife into his son, they make Abraham look like a raging psychopath.
Later, when Abraham decides everyone should be circumcised, the guys don't think it such a great idea.
Unfortunately, these moments are sandwiched in between less funny, more cringe-worthy gags, such as when Sodom's high priest (Oliver Platt), forces Oh to rub oil over his excessively hairy chest.
I've liked both Black and Cera in several films, but they each were almost unbearable. Cera's rambling, mumbling motormouth was cute and endearing in "Superbad" and "Juno," but it's simply annoying here. Black's dunderheaded bombast also falls flat, as there's nothing to prop it on until the last act, when he finally, suddenly becomes a warrior after being bullied and beated for about 90 minutes.
The film is an Apatow production, directed by Harold Ramis, but with that trademark Apatow ad libbing. It seems as if the editor chose the third or fourth funniest takes, though, rather than the best one.
Unfortunately, with a script with this many problems, that's not the best thing to do.
I suspect "Year One" is another victim of the Writer's Strike, which has already at least in part sapped the quality from this summer's slate of movies, leaving underwritten globs in place of an actual sharp screenplay.
It's a shame, because the premise is good, but the execution is pretty lacking.
Rating: 2 Yaps out of 5
Read Nick Rogers' review of "Year One" here.