Year One*
(guest review by Ashley)
Hey Todd. I've seen you have guest reviews once and a while. Usually I don't get
out to see movies and just rent 'em, but I actually went to see a movie that was
pretty new in theaters. Of course it all went wrong after that, but I thought I
would share my thoughts. If you like 'em, great. If not, that's fine.
My brother in law is in town, and being the boring parents we are, we felt the
need to take this guy "out on the town." Our version of having fun is a far cry
from just about everyone else's definition, but hey- we've got small children.
We'd rather be in bed by nine than out on the strip watching stuff. We checked
out the movies. Really wanted to see the Hangover movie. I was in the mood for
comedy. I should preface this with the fact I'm pregnant, so I'm naturally
grumpy and can cry at the drop of a hat. So comedies are really the only option
for me at the moment. The Hangover was all full, and we'd have to be up an extra
half hour later. So we saw Year One; fully aware that it was either mildly
amusing or a total black hole of sucking. Jack Black is really hit or miss in my
opinion. But I like the Michael Ceveramera action. So we took our chances. (and
bought Hot Tamales. Any horrible movie could at least be redeemed by Hot
Tamales)
The movie started out pretty ok! I was kind of surprised and grooving with it.
Some good laughs, getting into the whole caveman action. Then there were more
characters introduced, a plot was forming, but it was forming in the wrong
direction! Kind of going nowhere! Then we saw the whole movie unravel before our
eyes. There were a few more laughs, but in retrospect I was probably just
laughing because I felt I had to. I wanted to have a good night out! There was
lots of poop and fart jokes. The guys chuckled. But a few too many poop and fart
jokes to make any of them really funny. In short it follows the bible stories in
a meandering kind of way, like sprinkling it in here and there. With only a 50%
success rate of making it enjoyable.
A small sidenote to this conversation: I like the Michael Ceveramera, but he's
doing the same befuddled geeky charm thing over and over again. You can pretty
much copy/paste on your new iphone his previous work right into this movie. Same
stuff. But I kinda like it, so I let it go. Also, Jack Black was way less spazzy
in this one. I give him props on his self restraint to start air-guitaring every
second.
Actually, this movie really wants you to glaze right over it. I get that it's
about being funny. But when you're not that funny, the details start to blare
out at you and start screaming "look at me!" like those laundry commercials with
the stain blabbing during some guy's interview. At one point I was wondering how
the set was made and stuff. There were quite a few people that up and left at
various times in this flick! That's got to mean something. I wanted to go with
them and browse the halls for something better to watch, but that's the problem
with going to the shows with other people. You never know- maybe the guys were
digging the flick? (later in the car it was established that no, the guys didn't
dig it either)
Good things about this movie:
- Cain and Abel were really funny. Cain pops in and out of the story, and is
pretty hilarious.
- The circumcision jokes were going over pretty well.
- The chick from House was in there and I liked it.
- The end credits had some pretty funny deleted scenes. Including Jack Black
farting. Even I laughed.
Bad things about this movie:
(there were a lot, but I'll condense it for you)
- It was really un funny most of the time.
- There was some random homosexuality which was neither funny nor fit very well
into what was going on.
- Actually, most of what happened was random and pieced together.
Summary- Skip this one. Or rent it when there's nothing else available
and you're commited to watching a movie. I'm giving it one and a half cookies.
- I was ready to get out of there by the time the credits ran.