Year One
June 28, 2009
3 stars out of 5
Jack Black and Michael Cera, stars of Year One, have a sort of Laurel and Hardy vibe going, or, to take a more recent comedy team example, David Spade and Chris Farley. Let us hope that Black manages to live longer than Farley, so that we can see this team at work again. Laurel and Hardy made more than 100 films. Modern artists don't have careers that long, but I'd love to see a few more featuring Black and Cera.
This film is more "smile" funny than "laugh out loud" funny. Highly amusing turns are offered by Oliver Platt as the high priest, Hank Azaria as Abraham and Juno Temple as the cute girlfriend ("When do you get off?" "Never. I'm a slave."). The humor is sophomoric ("Will you be my right hand?" "I've seen what you do with your right hand."), but not everyone can be S.J. Perlman. I mean, I hate to make Land of the Lost my new standard for lousy, but the fact is that while I rarely laughed out loud during this film, I rarely felt cheated or disappointed either.
With David Cross as a very amusing Cain (and Paul Rudd as the uncredited Abel), Cera once again heads an Arrested Development reunion. That fantastic under-appreciated Fox program will prove to be the minor league team that produces a lot of major league comedy talent.