If you've seen the classic comedies Caddyshack, Vacation, and Groundhog Day, you probably consider Harold Ramis a directorial genius. If you've sat through Club Paradise, Multiplicity, and the Analyze This, however, you'd call him a bona fide hack. So what are people who first encounter him via Year One to think?

Year One is a "one notch below" movie: It's neither terrible nor terribly good. A spoof of the Biblical epic, Ramis's latest is likeable enough without being laugh-out-loud funny, genially cynical without being outright satirical. Relying on the strained irreverence that made Land of the Lost such a chore, Ramis sidesteps a nimble approach to this historic lampoon by counterbalancing deadpan one-liners and cheeky asides with a kind of schoolyard scatology. (Poop and pee jokes surface every twenty minutes or so.) Of course, the adolescent humor shouldn't come as a surprise: In some ways Year One is following the tradition set by goofball classics like Mel Brooks's History of the World Part I and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Consider the time-traveling plot: After accidentally burning down part of his village, Zed (Jack Black) is banished to the "edge of the world." Taking his best friend Oh (Michael Cera) along with him, he then journeys from one fabled era to the next. The two meet Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd), then Abraham (Hank Azaria) and Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) before discovering that the girls theyd like to lay with, Maya (June Diane Raphael) and Eema (Juno Temple), have been enslaved by another tribe. As you'd expect, it's up to Zed to save the day.

Unfortunately, as with many other slightly-above-average efforts, Year One wastes far too much time getting to the good parts. Subplots don't deliver on their setups, and conflicts are resolved inorganically and awkwardly, as when they finally win over the skirts they've been chasing. (One moment, the girls hate them. The next, it's all cow eyes and kisses.) Still, despite all that, Black and Cera are excellent together. They're not quite a classic duo -- Superbad star Cera is definitely in support mode -- but their chemistry is undeniable, with Black playing his lovable slob self and Cera as his typically mousy foil.

Ramis does take a few feeble swipes at religion -- jabs that will remind you of that much funnier farce, Monty Python's Life of Brian. But for all its attempted chutzpah, Year One plays it safe, which is the kiss of death for comedies like this one. Which is to say: If you're new to the Ramis game and looking for a point of entry into the sometimes great director's work, you'd do best to scroll back to the first sentence of this review for a few alternate suggestions.

The DVD includes deleted and alternate scenes, gag reel, commentary track, and a making-of featurette.



Caveman-era teeth-whitening technology was awesome.