The idea of people from the past using modern day language is nothing new. We’ve seen it in The Flintstones, Monty Python, and even in our daily comic strips. (The New Yorker cartoons spring to mind.) So obviously there are a lot of people who think that the contrast between how people talked then and how people talk now is very funny. If you’re one of those people, then chances are you’ll enjoy ‘Year One,’ a simple yet harmless comedy that has many hits and misses. If you don’t think people from the past spouting modern language is funny, then trade your tiger skins elsewhere as this movie is really not for you.

The film takes place in, wouldn’t you know it, year one, as two cavemen find that they are well at the tail end of natural selection. They are Zed (Jack Black) and Oh (Michael Cera), and although they serve the tribe as hunter/gatherers, they actually provide very little. They spend more time eyeing the women that would someday like to “lay” with, Eema (Juno Temple) and Maya (June Diane Raphael). But, because of their disappointing contributions, Zed and Oh are kicked out of the tribe and forced to wander aimlessly through the wilderness. In their travels they come across some interesting biblical celebrities, such as Isaac and Abraham, Cain and Able, and even encounter the city of Sodom.

As you can imagine Zed and Oh experience all sorts of trouble and usually bring misery to everyone they meet. But Zed believes it’s all for the greater good; as it turns out, he ate from the “forbidden tree” before they left their tribe. Because of this, he believes he has more knowledge and is in fact the “Chosen One.” Of course Zed actually has no more knowledge than before he partook of the “Tree,” which leads him to guide Oh and himself into a whole pile of misfortune. Obviously not the great thinkers they believe themselves to be, both Zed and Oh are still likeable dimwits, rarely putting the pieces together and always messing up other people’s lives.

The jokes are somewhat old school, and watching this movie I couldn’t help but be reminded of Mel Brooks’ comedies like ‘Young Frankenstein’ or ‘Robin Hood: Men in Tights.’ The jokes for both those movies were based on a classic time period getting a modern take. But this humor has been done to death and therefore might have trouble finding an audience. It doesn’t help that this movie has just as many unfunny jokes as it does funny ones. For example there’s one scene where Jack Black eats dung to get information about where the tribe is going…and that’s it. Eating dung is the joke, nothing else. There are also a lot of scenes where Oh has to rub oil on an incredibly hairy priest…and again that’s it, there’s no other pay off. Perhaps to a third grader this would be funny, but to adults these gross out jokes just aren’t that shockingly humorous anymore, they’re just gross.

The film’s strong points lie solely in the language, like Abraham informing his people about the idea of circumcision by saying “No, really, I think it’s going to catch on.” Or when the slaves of Sodom are being whipped by the guards as one slave cheerfully comments “It’s so good to get outside, isn’t it?” Jokes like this are what make the movie work, and fortunately there are a lot of them. The film was directed by Harold Ramis of ‘Ghostbusters’ fame, and though not nearly as funny or creative, it does have that stamp of simple slapstick and basic verbal humor, which is pretty hard to resist. Anyone looking for more original or fresher comedy though may find ‘Year One’ a little too late on delivery. Perhaps 30 years ago this film would’ve been more unique and different, but today it has very few surprises or spontaneous jokes.

So who’ll like it? Fans of old school comedy will enjoy a good portion of the jokes. Just be warned, there is very little new comedy to be found, and the jokes that don’t work REALLY don’t work.

Who won’t like it? People looking for more innovative jokes and don’t find modern day talk in the past to be particularly amusing.

My thoughts? I actually did enjoy seeing this movie because I do in fact find modern day talk in the past funny. But even I acknowledge that this is a one joke movie, and anytime they veer away from that joke, the humor suffers. But for all that, it is what it is - an entertaining distraction, nothing new, but relatively harmless. I’d be lying if I said I would like to see more done with the script, especially with the biblical jokes, but I think this film’s simple intention was to get a few simple laughs. This isn’t supposed to be ‘Blazing Saddles’ or ‘Life of Brian’ where today’s satire mixed with past politics make us realize something about human nature; it’s just supposed to be a bit of fun. That’s what I had, so that’s how I recommend it – a little bit of fun.