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Year One (2009)

tomatometer

15

Average Rating: 3.8/10
Reviews Counted: 163
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 139

Year One is a poorly executed, slapdash comedy in which the talent both in front of and behind the camera never seem to be on the same page.

20

Average Rating: 4.1/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 24

Year One is a poorly executed, slapdash comedy in which the talent both in front of and behind the camera never seem to be on the same page.

audience

31

liked it
Average Rating: 2.6/5
User Ratings: 319,393

My Rating

Movie Info

Jack Black and Michael Cera headline Harold Ramis' Biblical comedy about a pair of misfit hunter-gatherers who embark on a wild journey through the ancient world after being banished from their primitive village. Zed (Black) and Oh (Cera) may lack in the skills that their chieftain is looking for, but they have plans to make it big. Zed has a gut feeling that God has "chosen" him, and so he leads his buddy on a trip through the unknown countryside in search of bigger and better things, bumping

Oct 6, 2009

$43.3M

Sony Pictures

Cast

All Critics (163) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (24) | Rotten (144) | DVD (10)

Creatively it's a giant step backwards, with Jack Black and Michael Cera playing to the kids as inept hunter-gatherers who stumble across various Old Testament characters.

January 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Year One has] some very funny moments but not enough of them.

June 22, 2009 Full Review Source: At the Movies | Comment
At the Movies
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a significant notch below the great Monty Python films that tackled religion with intelligence and wit.

June 22, 2009 Full Review Source: At the Movies | Comment
At the Movies
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The people who made Year One seem to think that all you have to do to make a hit comedy is get a bunch of jokesters together. But where are the jokes?

June 19, 2009 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | Comment
Christian Science Monitor
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Year One is nowhere near as funny as the ancient-civilization movies I saw in high school: Life of Brian, History of the World Part I, Caligula. Its script isn't worth the papyrus it's inscribed on.

June 19, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comments (11)
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Has neither wit nor wisdom nor charm nor beauty.

June 19, 2009 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | Comments (2)
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Dudley Moore once made a pretty forgettable comedy giving various well-worn bible stories a light irony wash by reacting to them with the skepticism and confusion a person of today might. Year One is basically that, but dumber.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | Comment
ComingSoon.net

From its ill-concieved concept to its timing-free chemistry and embarrassingly-bad characterisations, Year One is a major misfire in every respect.

August 9, 2010 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au | Comment
sbs.com.au

a lazy excrescence of a film. Crude, sloppy, flat, and singularly uninspired, its only redeeming virtue is proving that Michael Cera is capable of rising above even this abominable material

July 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | Comment (1)
Killer Movie Reviews

Only big fans of Cera and Black need catch this film, and even then, it's far from a must-see.

April 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Fan The Fire | Comment
Fan The Fire

What's even more depressing than the never-ending stream of sub-sixth-grade toilet humor is the sad fact that Year One is helmed and co-produced by two of the best laughmeisters in the business.

January 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle

Not everything Judd Apatow touches is gold.

January 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | Comment
Boston Phoenix

Old Testament meets old jokes in rough, unfunny comedy.

December 15, 2009 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

The problem is not the historicity, or lack thereof, in a comedy, but the uneven pace of the humor.

December 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinemalogue.com | Comment

Producer Judd Apatow has gone from comedy gourmand to McDonald-izing in four years. And when in doubt, director Harold Ramis makes Jack Black eat his own feces and Michael Cera pee in his own mouth. Yes, this is at the level of YouTube monkey comedy.

December 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

Ramis was so enamored with the town of Sodom that he just couldn't bear to have his subjects leave. And that's where the film bogs down.

October 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

This one is destined to take its place alongside films like Evan Almighty and Wholly Moses!.

October 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

The only thing that can be mustered up for the whole sorry enterprise is pity.

October 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Projection Booth | Comment
Projection Booth

As underwhelming as its buzz might have indicated...

October 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comment
Reel Film Reviews

Black's biggest idiot in the village, overly flirty heathen turned moronic messiah tries to hunt and gather copious hairy bodied babes who really know how to stroke their spears, while a shackled Cera pees upside down through his collar.

October 2, 2009 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

Might not be Jack Black's best film, but it's definitely his worst.

October 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Sly Fox | Comment
Sly Fox

If there's anything sadder than an unfunny comedy, it's an unfunny comedy that tacks on an equally unfunny blooper reel over the closing credits.

August 31, 2009 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | Comment
TheMovieReport.com

[Year One] feels lazy: There's no cheap joke Mr. Ramis and company didn't go for, no gag-worthy gag they didn't include.

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Times | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Year One

Year One is a terrible example of a comedy film, it has nothing but toilet humor and thats a sign of a crappy film. The plot is as pointless as they get, and another failure for Judd Apatow. The cast is crappy, one of the work jack Black films ever and Michael Cera is just here to be awkward. I hated this film and I

April 27, 2011
DreamExtractor
Brad Wright

Super Reviewer

Meet your ancestorsSaw it again! Pretty decent funny not boring movie. It was very entertaining and it was a trip just observing the past as they joke about it, hilarious!Zed, a prehistoric would-be hunter, eats from a tree of forbidden fruit and is banished from his tribe, accompanied by Oh, a shy gatherer. On their

July 5, 2009
xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
Manu Gino

Super Reviewer

    1. Oh: Im not following, I'v just been leading from the rear.
    – Submitted by John O (4 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • The Year One (FR)
  • Aņo uno (ES)
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