Year One

[Anderton Prime]

Well, it was rated PG-13, but may I just say that if I was under 13 and my father took me to see this, there would have been an awkward moment every sixty seconds. Not even from National Lampoon have I seen this much toilet humour trying to be passed off as a summer blockbuster. Jack Black is a huge disappointment, not because he isn't funny, because he is at times his regularly hilarious self. The problem is that he doesn't seem to be progressing in his career. He was miscast in King Kong big time, and School of Rock also fell short of his capabilities as a comedian I felt. I loved him in Orange County, Saving Silverman, and of course in his BEST movie, Nacho Libre. But here, we see somewhat of a degradation into jokes about poop, boobies, sucking on bananas suggestively, boners, and homosexuality the likes of which I haven't witnessed since being in the Grade 7 changeroom with a group of boys. The result is that halfway through the movie I turned to my friend and asked what in the hell this movie was actually ABOUT. There's not really an identifiable villain, as those you think are Jack Black and Michael Cera's enemies quickly turn into their allies and vice versa, nor is there much of a conceivable plot. The actors are just wandering aimlessly through the world, encountering scenarios and bumbling into more and more trouble. Michael Cera is problematic too, as by this point I'm exhausted of his particular shtick. The shy, nervous virgin who is awkward around women and cowers in the presence of more powerful men has gotten pretty old.

I expected to laugh a lot more, and though I did chuckle a few times, I'm ashamed to say it was only when Jack Black's character eats poop and whenever Oliver Platt's gay and incompetent High Priest character was onscreen.

2/5.

Don't bother seeing it in the theatres.