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Year One

EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures (Sony)

Year One reviews
34
4.7 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 78 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Adventure  |  Comedy

Written by: Harold Ramis
Gene Stupnitsky
Lee Eisenberg

Directed by: Harold Ramis

Release Date:
Theatrical: June 19, 2009
DVD: October 6, 2009

Running Time: minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, brief strong language and comic violence

Starring Jack Black, Michael Cera, Oliver Platt, David Cross, and Hank Azaria

When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world. (Sony Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A thoroughly, sometimes gaggingly broad and sly conceptual laugh-in.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Year One has one joke, but it's a good one, played for many variations over the course of an often very funny comedy.

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67

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

This is just silliness run mildly wild.

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63

Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand

Dopey but resourceful yukfest.

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63

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It's the knockabout biblical lark Mel Brooks never got around to making.

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63

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

At best it's a bit like Mel Brooks' "The History of the World Part I" (except Ramis stops somewhere in Genesis); at worst it's like a Scary Movie-type parody of John Huston's "The Bible."

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50

Slate Dana Stevens

I have a certain affection for this movie, if only because of its conceptual simplicity.

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50

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Year One is not really THAT bad and not ENTIRELY without laughs.

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50

Variety Ronnie Scheib

Lacks seismic guffaws but elicits many mild smiles.

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50

USA Today Claudia Puig

The humor, largely centered around bodily functions and bathroom habits, is almost exclusively sophomoric.

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42

The Onion (A.V. Club) Josh Modell

Year One isn't dreadful; it just isn't nearly as funny as it hopes to be.

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40

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

A lot of comedic talent founders in this new Harold Ramis comedy that doesn't exactly recall his glory days of "Caddyshack" and "Groundhog Day."

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40

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

There is no real plot either; instead the narrative seems designed to get this prehistoric pair from one funny sketch to the next, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

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40

Empire Dan Jolin

Unless you pine for second-tier Mel Brooks, you'll find more laughs in the Old Testament itself.

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38

ReelViews James Berardinelli

I found the most extreme material to be so tasteless that it voided all comedy.

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38

New York Post Kyle Smith

Its script isn't worth the papyrus it's inscribed on.

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33

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

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?

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30

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Year One sets prehistoric comedy back at least 20 years.

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30

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

A lowbrow, only fitfully amusing comedy.

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25

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Perhaps the best that can be said for Year One is that it aims low and hits the mark.

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25

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A dreary experience.

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25

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Any good will the movie generates, though, is grated right back off by Black, whose obnoxiousness has lost whatever charm it once possessed.

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20

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The only people who should be peeved enough to raise hell about Year One are the viewers who had to pay to sit through it.

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20

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Creatively it's a giant step backwards.

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20

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

During all of the film’s oh-so-long 97 minutes, Year One, barely earns a snicker.

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12

Premiere Robert Calvert

We loved this movie the first three times we saw it, when it was called "Life of Brian," "Wholly Moses," and "History of the World Part 1."

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10

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

This is shtick that’s minimally a generation past its expiration date.

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0

LA Weekly Robert Wilonsky

Unbearably painful from shrugging start to outtakes-laden finish, Harold Ramis’ half-assed, hare-brained return to writing and directing makes Mel Brooks’ equally muddled, soporific "History of the World, Part 1" look downright majestic by comparison.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 4.7 (out of 10) based on 78 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Razv T. gave it a7:
I don't agree with all the negative grades. It was a good movie, funny scenes, jack black is funny as always and everything is ok.

Chris G. gave it a7:
While nothing special, this movie moves along nicely and provides some good laughs provided that one (a) like this sort of mindless movies (b) is in the mood for some light entertainment.

John D gave it a10:
Best movie of the year. Micheal Cera should win best supporting actor award. I would rank this as #3 all time behind Felini's 8 1/2 and Citizen Kane, and slightly ahead of Godfather part 1.

Ben B gave it a6:
The films opens with a strange but digestible set of caveman gags. The film however seems to continue with the same types of gags throughout various time periods without ever offering anything fresh. My the end of the movie, you are left in a dramatic climax scene full of characters that you have long stopped caring about, in a movie that has definitely overstayed its welcome.

Perverz Bi gave it a6:
It's a typical Apatow movie set in the times of the Old Testament. And the Old Testament is perfect for an Apatow movie's sex&fart jokes. Yes, it is a different kind of humour than what Mel Brooks had, but this movie's plot is more comprehensive, I think. If you survive the first 20 minutes, it turns out to be quite funny to reflect today's order of values in the biblical setting.

Jesse B gave it a3:
Very disappointing. I like Black and Cera, but it just wasn't funny.

Ryan S. gave it a3:
Jack Black was kind of funny, but the rest of this was garbage. Way too much unfunny biblical stuff, too.

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