2009
Starring: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Oliver Platt, David Cross, Juno Temple, Hank Azaria, June Diane Raphael
Director: Harold Ramis
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Rating: PG-13

When it comes to comedy, the process really is ninety-nine percent perspiration. Airplane! for example went through an extensive screening process that saw Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers relentlessly scrutinize the film, removing jokes that fell flat and re-inserting new ones, resulting in a film many consider the greatest comedy of all time. There are comedies that in the right hands become a labor of love, the effort and dedication poured into which would rival the most prestigious award’s picture. This is not one of those comedies.

The latest attempt by Harold Ramis (who typically deserves the benefit of the doubt) to club us over the head with the old funny bone relies on that other Hollywood adage – concept is king. The thing is though without serfs to do the grunt work (or in this case some jokes) the kingdom swiftly crumbles. Such is the case with Year One, which adopts a leisurely preamble through the early chapters of recorded civilization designed to illustrate the absurdity of blind faith in age-old religious dogma the origins of which we can only presume to understand.

Click here to read the full review at Uinterview.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 pm and is filed under Comedy/Romance, Feature Films, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.