Product Description

Two lazy cavemen are banished from their village and head out on their own to form a new tribe, and along the way they encounter Biblical figures and

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10753 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2009-10-06
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Dimensions: .16 pounds
• Running time: 196 minutes

Amazon.com
Director Harold Ramis leans away from the Groundhog Day side of his personality and toward the Caddyshack side with Year One, a broad comedy set in more-or-less ancient times. The film's cockeyed timeline puts two wandering cavemen (Jack Black and Michael Cera) through a rapid-fire series of biblical events: Cain (David Cross) slaying Abel (Paul Rudd), Abraham (Hank Azaria) preparing to smite his son Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and everybody converging on Sodom, the Genesis equivalent of Las Vegas. The jokes range from droll religious references to Apatow-ready testicular gags, but almost all of the real humor comes from the efforts of the performers to put things across. Black and Cera couldn't be more different in their styles, but each manages to conjure up some laughs just by working in his particular vein: one can appreciate Black's exuberant extrovert pouncing all over the material like a needy Golden Retriever and also savor Cera's muttering wallflower as he flicks in his sidelong observations. Azaria and Oliver Platt are given very long leashes--they know what to do with that kind of room--and Ramis himself plays a mighty-bearded Adam, but it's all not quite enough to prevent Year One from falling into that hard-luck zone with Caveman and Wholly Moses: one more comedy that suggests the ancient world wasn't really all that funny. --Robert Horton




Stills from Year One (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Was it really all that bad?
I seem to find myself in the minority here, but I actually liked "Year One". Having seen it in the theater, I thought it was a fairly fun and light-hearted experience all around. The humor is perhaps not as broad as some prefer-but myself, I sort of enjoyed the subtleties. These type of films usually benefit from a second or even third viewing if you give them a chance.

In "Year One", Jack Black plays his part adequately but seems to yield the majority of the spotlight to his on-screen cohort Michael Cera. Michael Cera is the real star of "Year One" and Black seems to know it-taking a step back for the younger comedic actor to really shine. Cera's comedic delivery is dry and spot-on for his character "Oh" and he plays the part with real charismatic charm. In short, it is Cera's film, not Black's-and I wouldn't have had it any other way.


When it comes down to it, Year One is just a harmless little diversionary film which doesn't take itself too seriously and nor should you. I personally thought it had a lot of wit and charm. Perhaps it just didn't strike the majority of audiences in the same way. That's too bad too because personally, I found this film far more entertaining than some of the summer's bloated special effects films.

Surprisingly, this film looks amazing on Blu-Ray too-especially the city scenes.

Simply, its Black being Black, and Cera being Cera
This movie appeared much more funny from previews, but seeing it in theaters just did not live up to the hype. As I mentioned in my title it is mostly Jack Black, acting as Jack Black (Loud, Outlandish, Stupid) and Michael Cera acting as his characters usually would (Awkward, shy, quiet) but in a biblical setting.

The movie begins in a small village with Black and Cera as friends. Black is a hunter and Cera is a gatherer. After eating from the tree of knowledge, Black is excommunicated from the village and Cera decides to follow, while the other members of the village are taken prisoner including Cera's love interest.

The story continues leading the characters to several biblical events that are quite entertaining such as meeting Abraham, Cain and Able, Sodom, and many other events. Black and Cera continue on their quest finally liberating the village from their enslavement and capture and Cera becomes a more confident individual and gains the attention of his love interest.

Overall the action is predictable and some of the moments in the movie miss their mark but with a few one liners and some interesting biblical references this movie is pretty good once or twice.

Really enjoyable comedy
I've read a couple of critical reviews of this movie and can't help but laugh at the disdain for this movie. I don't see how people expected greatness and depth out of a movie with Jack Black set in prehistoric and biblical times. I mean could they not see that by looking at the cover with a clean shaven, doe eyed Cera cast as a caveman? You want comedic depth, go watch "Best in Show" or "Arrested Development". You want silly and mindless toilet humor, then watch this.

I didn't go into this movie expecting an Oscar worthy movie or ground breaking performance, in fact nobody should. This movie is obviously intended for you to shut your brain down and let go for a couple of hours. I really enjoyed this movie and love Black in these type of roles. Cera plays the same role as he did in "Superbad" which isn't a bad thing since he's perfect as the shy awkward guy. You get that this movie is going in a whole different direction from the on-set of the movie when the cavemen speak with current day dialogue. It's right at that point where you're either sticking with it or bailing because even the most novice move watcher knows that this isn't "History of the World". If you like stuff from the Apatow troupe then this movie might be up your alley. If you don't get the Apatow reference then you obviously won't get this movie.