Anno uno

This is nowhere as bad as some are making out - it has touches of Python and a lot of Mel Brooks - it is pretty lazy in places with too much adlibbing - at least I hope it was adlibbing...

But this is pretty good entertainment - and it's not really about cavemen - it's about the Old Testament set mainly in Sodom - and it is kind of like Life of Brian - though clearly not in the same class.

One can understand why marketers don't want problems with an upset congregation, but at the end of the day this works pretty well as both broad comedy and a gentle satire.

Considering that I was expecting a total donkey with a side order of turkey this was pretty much a fun film - and no where near as bad as I'd heard. Can be watched without loss of brain cells...

From the reviews, this movie seemed like it would be horribly bad, and full of annoying cringe worthy moments, but this is not true at all. Actually, despite a lazy script full of nonstop crude and sex jokes, and moments that could be really awful, this movie is above the very low bar. Jack Black and Michael Cera take this bad material and make something mediocre out of it, which still isn't saying much.

Zed (Jack Black) is a gatherer who tries to fit in with the hunter clan, but he's just too silly for their tastes. Oh (Michael Cera) is also a gatherer and is a somewhat unpopular with the ladies. After an accident involving fire, this mismatched pair has to leave and they do through various pieces of biblical history, including meeting Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd), and meeting Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Abraham (Hank Azaria), who apparently had a thing for cutting foreskin. The movie is a hodge podge of scenes thrown together with very little plot, but by the end Zed and Oh have to save the lives of two girls from their village.

Jack Black and Michael Cera are pretty good here. Jack Black does his typical over the top stoner performance and Michael Cera gives the emotional boy performance. Even David Cross and Oliver Platt manage to squeeze some laughs out of their performances. But nobody really has a lot of material to work with, though at the same time the material isn't the worst out there. It's bad, and oftentimes relies on some outwardly sexual material. In fact, this is the least subtle PG-13 rated film I've seen where sexual or crude jokes are involved. This includes scenes of eating poop and throwing testicles. If something sexual happens, it's not only just implied, but it's flaunted.

One big problem is the lack of plot in the movie. It grows boring going from setpiece to setpiece, never establishing a real plot until the end, and despite being only around 100 minutes, it still feels way too long. The climax is ridiculous and quite boring, and this movie is too filled with scenes that aren't particularly horrible, but they aren't particularly funny, and all too often this movie is just a laugh free staring at the screen. It managed to attain quite consistent mediocrity, with some chuckles every once in a while. It wasn't horrible, it just wasn't good either, by any means.

My rating: ** out of ****. 105 mins. PG-13 for crude sexual humor, drug use, and language.

"Just wait right there. I'll be right back to cut your pen*ses"

Harold Ramis' final film before he passed away in 2014. May his soul rest in peace. His works will continue to inspire and make people happy.

As a fan of most of Jack Black's work so far (at least the non Tenacious D stuff that is in comedy) and a fan of Michael Cera's great straight man work on Arrested Development and Superbad, I was very disappointed in this film. It is a great premise for a movie but it fails to deliver many laughs, it is basically one of those "all the funny parts are in the trailer" movies and was I think a really wasted opportunity for what could have been a very funny film. Jack Black is okay doing his usual act and Michael Cera is very good in his typical straight man role but the laughs don't exactly come flowing through. There are a couple of very good cameo appearances in the movie, I don't want to spoil the surprise, and they help to make up for the overall poor quality of the rest of the film. Worth seeing probably but definitely not at the movies for $12.

Saw this at a matinée yesterday, with very lowered expectations. Don't quite get all the hate on here for it. If you like Jack Black and Michael Cera, they perform as expected here, loudmouthed braggart and wimpy foil, respectively. Amazing cast...David Cross as Cain and Paul Rudd as Abel? Inspired. Oliver Platt as a hairy-chested high priest? The "McLovin" Kid? There's even a member of Upright Citizens Brigade who puts in a very brief cameo. The story is dumb, and there's a few jokes that fall flat...but the sets are impressive and everyone involved seems to be having fun. A good rental, at least. But you people that are rating it a 1? Save your venom for movies that deserve that, like "Meet The Spartans" (unwatchable) or the latest Michael Bay atrocity.