Year One **

Director: Harold Ramis

Year: 2009

Writers: Harold Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg

Cinematographer: Alar Kivilo

Not all that funny. Not unwatchable, but falls way short of being great comedy.

They have a good premise here, and I like Jack Black and Michael Cera, but unfortunately neither seem to be reigned in here by the director. I don't know how much to blame the script for, but I do feel pretty secure in criticizing Ramis' directing since he was one of the screenwriters as well, he especially had the responsibility to use a good premise and make good comedy out of it. Instead, we get a series of potentially funny situations as Black and Cera romp from eating of the "tree of knowledge of good and evil" to meeting Cane just before he kills Abel, then on to being slaves in the desert, captured by Roman Soldiers, and then ending up in Sodom with a lot of repetitive but never funny, sodomy jokes, supposedly just before it gets destroyed by God.

The situations are irreverent both to history and the Judeo-Christian heritage, mixing up their figures and rewriting famous scenes from the bible. I like that idea, it could be spectacularly funny, like in Monty Python's, The Life of Brian, but here the script or the improvisation of the actors never really delivers real jokes. Only the referencing of fairly obvious jokes that come from being in the situation, and dumb and crude superficial humor.

Further cements my theory that the only good comedy is satire. Goofing around and acting stupid, making jokes about sodomy, farts, balls, gays, and laughing at women who suggest God could be a woman does not make comedy.

Infantile, never capitalized on its premise.

Not really worth your time, see "Monty Python's: The Life of Brian".