In a movie that took place during simpler times, the storyline took a simple approach in the comedy “Year One.”

The movie is set in time of cavemen and stars Jack Black (School of Rock, Nacho Libre) as Zed and Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad) as Oh. The story follows the two as they travel from village to village after Zed (Black) is banished from their initial tribe for eating the forbidden fruit in their village (there are numerous religious topics used in the movie).

The two are constantly trying to rescue their love intersects, Eema (Juno Temple) and Maya (June Diane Raphael) from their slavery after Oh and Zed’s tribe was raided shortly after their banishment.

During Oh and Zed’s encounters the two meet plenty of characters that re-occur as the movie goes on, including small parts from Paul Rudd (40 Year Old Virgin, Role Models), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad), David Cross (Arrested Development) and many more. Their roles really help give the movie its backbone and provide a big chunk of the funnier moments in the film.

As the movie continues Oh and Zed constantly come close to rescuing their love interests, but inevitably fall short until the whole storyline commences in a village that is on the verge of a riot because of lack of food because of a long drought. Oh and Zed’s quest for their love ends up being a quest for so much more, as with almost any simple comedy movie.

The movie, directed by Harold Ramis and produced by Judd Apatow, at many points takes on the storyline that deals with the issues of religion and beliefs ,i.e. forbidden fruit and Oh’s questioning of whether or not you should believe at all.

In a nutshell, Black and Cera took their typical character roles and moved themselves into a prehistorical setting.

The movie at times had many humorous parts, particularly when the topic of circumcision gets brought up or during Rudd’s brief moment in the movie, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary from a typical Black or Cera character. Black’s character is loud and crazy while Cera’s is full with funny dry humor and awkward moments. The majority of the humor of the movie comes in the form of some type of sexual innuendo.

Almost everything about the movie is predictable after the first ten minutes of the movie and the plot is explained.

The only thing not laid out is what off the wall humor will be brought in between, caveman style of course.

3 out of 5 stars

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E-mail the author: Tim Ottusch