"Year One" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Space Cadet]

Zed: "You could be my right-hand man."
Oh: "I've seen what you do with your right hand. No, thank you."

Release Date: June 19th, 2009
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director: Harold Ramis
Writers: Harold Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
Starring: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd, David Cross, Olivia Wilde
Genres: Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, brief strong language and comic violence.


Summary: After being banished from their homeland, Zed and Oh, two tribesmen, embark on a journey through their ancient world.

Comments?

[Tobias]

I thought it was funny, but it's not going to be the summer's best film. As always, David Cross steals the show.

And yes, Micheal Cera still continues to play his 'socially awkward teen' role here. Cera's not a bad actor, but he seriously needs to stretch his acting muscles in other roles.

[Old Guy]

It had funny parts, but as a whole it was bad. Possibly Apatow's weakest movie.

[Condiment King]

It had funny parts, but as a whole it was bad. Possibly Apatow's weakest movie.

I'm not one to consider Apatow-produced movies to be really his, only the ones that he wrote/co-wrote/directed. I realize that view is flawed, but I stick by it.

And I agree. Bad movie with only a few laughs. Michael Cera desperately needs to do something, anything else in a film other than his awkward Arrested Development character. It was funny in 2003. It's not funny anymore. Also skilled actors should challenge themselves every so often, my good man.

[Old Guy]

I'm not one to consider Apatow-produced movies to be really his

It's hard to seperate his directorial movies with his producing ones when it's the same people and a similar tone and style. Apatow doesn't make any efforts to seperate the two. This isn't like Steven Spielberg producing Gremlins, Back to the Future, and Transformers. But regardless...it's the weakest thing he's ever been involved with.

[Hobbes829]

i like cera's schtick. Why change it up if it's working for him still?

Jack black is oh so terrible

I laughed quite a bit.

[Old Guy]

Michael Cera, despite a bad performance, had the funniest scene. It's the one where he's chained upside down and urinates himself.

[Condiment King]

I don't know. I mean I just didn't like the script honestly. The same with Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. But when it's a bad script and Cera is doing his same thing, it just annoys me a whole lot. It's not really working for me anymore. In a setting like Year One, especially, it felt forced.

I honestly can't even imagine him playing a different character at this point. And when I look at his movies, and I sincerely cannot tell the differences between the characters, I feel like that's a problem. He's not bringing anything new to the table. It feels like he's not trying to make each of his characters unique, whereas a guy like Christian Bale seems to go the extra mile to do something different for each one. I'm a bigger fan of guys who are willing to have greater range and take risks, even if they don't always work out.

Jack Black is the same, in a way, though I really liked his role in Margot at the Wedding, which was a different kind of role for him.

[Hobbes829]

cera's still relatively early in his career. It's unfair to compare him to people that are not only in their 30s but have been working longer than he has.

Plus, very few actors are character actors. Most give different shades of the same performance. Jack Nichelson, as great as he is, is very similar in every role.

[Prdgn]

At least they went the biblical route, and not straight-cavemen. That usually gets boring really quick.

[Old Guy]

Most give different shades of the same performance.

Yes...different shades. Which is something Cera hasn't done. It's literally the same! See, Cera works fine when it's a role that requires his schtick like in Superbad, Juno, and Nick & Norah. But in Year One they should have gone with someone else.

[Hobbes829]

it still works

[savedbythebell]

it still works

and you can't really blame an actor for being typecast.

[Tobias]

I think if they focused less on how crude they could make some of the jokes, and more about how they could make some of the scenes funnier overall, it would have been better. There was absolutely no need for the scene between Oh and Caine's brother in the bed (The one with painfully drawn out farting), or some of the other scatological gags.

Maybe they should have gone the Naked Gun/Airplane/Top Gun route with the movie.

[CaptainHero]

I wouldn't judge Michael Cera until we see him in "Youth in Revolt" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. The world". If anything, Scott Pilgrim is going to really show off his acting chops because the character is not awkward at all and it's directed by Edgar Wright who wouldn't cast someone in a lead role if they couldn't act.