Military Movies - Military Times

A very bad ‘Year’

When the outtake flubs that run during the closing credits of your film are way funnier than anything in the film itself, you have a bit of a problem.

So it is for writer-director Harold Ramis and “Year One,” a sprawling, unfocused, threadbare mash-up of disparate biblical allusions in which Jack Black once again lets his ample belly do much of his acting.

For those who don’t recognize the name Harold Ramis, he’s the guy who created three of the most enduring — and endearing — comedies of the past few decades: “Caddyshack,” “Ghostbusters” and “Animal House.”

But he hasn’t done a decent film since 1993’s “Groundhog Day” — and why he thought something like “Year One” would be his big comeback vehicle is one of those cosmic Hollywood questions.

The premise is astonishingly simplistic. In the year of the title, two bumbling hunter-gatherers, Zed (Black) and Oh (Michael Cera, the nerd from “Superbad” and “Juno”) are exiled by their exasperated tribe after Zed noms on some forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.

For Zed, “knowledge” is relative; he believes he’s “The Chosen,” but he’s not quite sure what for. So he and Oh set out on a voyage of self-discovery across the ancient world. On this anorexic frame, Ramis hangs a series of tenuously linked scenes that come off like sweaty-bad improvisational sketches.

“The Odyssey” it ain’t. In fact, it’s mainly an homage to various bodily functions and fluids — the kind of humor that seventh-graders snicker over.

The litany starts with a scene in which Black picks up a piece of animal poo, sniffs it, then tastes it. Clearly, Ramis is lazily looking back to his infamous candy bar-in-the-pool bit in “Caddyshack.” But that was a comic masterpiece — “Jaws” theme music, shrieking swimmers, Bill Murray’s mop-up job. Nothing about Black’s scene compares; it’s just disgusting.

Thirsty for more? How about the scene in which Ramis has Cera chained upside down solely to have him let his bladder go so we can watch the urine cascade down over his face?

Still not laughing? OK, there’s the half-dozen bad circumcision jokes after Zed and Oh meet the Hebrews in the form of Abraham (the great Hank Azaria, wasted in a glorified cameo), about to off his son Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, better known as McLovin from “Superbad”).

Mintz-Plasse then gets a scene in which he lets loose a noxious cloud of fart jokes. (“Ooh, a little surprise on the end of that one!”)

And all of this is before Zed and Oh reach the infamous city of Sodom, allowing Ramis to let loose a torrent of groaner sodomy jokes as the film sputters on.

The script isn’t the only problem. (It’s quite possible there was no script; that’s how ad-libbed the whole thing feels.) It’s pretty obvious by now that Black isn’t a great choice to carry a film. The reason is simple: As we all know, Jack goes down smoothest in small sips.

As such, Black was great in the strong ensemble cast in last year’s “Tropic Thunder.” But put him out front for an entire film, and his mugging style wears thin quickly. (“Nacho Libre,” anyone?)

Ramis obviously thought pairing Black and Cera might get a little Abbott & Costello vibe going, but they have little chemistry. In fact, it’s a coin flip as to whether Cera’s soft-spoken, one-note shtick affords him any real future in films.

For comedy fans who still bust a gut over Ramis’ classic films on late-night reruns, seeing him sink to this level is beyond sad. The unholy “Year One” is irrefutable proof that his funny tank has run dry.

Rated PG-13, which here seems to mean 13 pretty gross bodily functions and fluids, along with some mild sexual content. Got a rant or rave about the movies? E-mail cvinch@atpco.com.