MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Year One Rated PG-13

Directed by Harold Ramis.  Starring Jack Black, Michael Cera



Photo © Columbia Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

Year One begins as a caveman movie and then morphs into a Bible/sword and sandals parody, which is not something you see every day.

Its main characters, Zed (Black) and Oh (Cera), are the most inept hunter and gatherers of the clan.  They are eventually banished from their tribe, but not before they make a stop at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

After eating the forbidden fruit, their journey takes them to Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd), Abraham (Hank Azaria) and Isaac (Christopher “McLovin” Mintz-Plasse), and eventually to the city of Sodom.  When a comedy spends its entire second half in the city of Sodom, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. 

Although there’s plenty of sexual talk, the film gets more delight in scatological jokes involving poop, pee and farts.  Hey, I warned you! 

The cast is filled to the brim with comic talent and, like the milder Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, there’s so much improv and mugging going on, some of the stuff’s going to be entertaining. 

But be warned of all of the things that can be squeezed into a PG-13 movie these days, including the “allowed” single use of the F-word (which also makes an appearance, I’m told, in Land of the Lost!)  In my opinion, an honest R film is more honorable than a shady PG-13 movie that works in as much “adult” material as it can for a middle school audience. 

Pitchfork Rating:
One halo (For a sloppy mess of a movie, it does have its moments, but you need to lower your expectations first.) Three pitchforks (As much crudity and sexual innuendo as you can squeeze into a PG-13 flick, including swearing and one use of the F-Bomb; there’s also a pervasive lack of respect for the Bible.]

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