One of the worst reviewed films of the year comes to DVD tomorrow, OctoberOctober reviews 6th, with theatrical and unrated releases, and despite a 16% freshness rating, there are moments of fun in the Harold Ramis effort. Many were quick to slam Year OneYear One reviews, and wonder in shock at the downfall of Ramis, the man behind CaddyshackCaddyshack reviews, Animal House, StripesStripes reviews, and Groundhog DayGroundhog Day reviews, but I think they may have been a bit too quick in  more than one direction.

First, the film isn’t that bad. Second, Ramis really creates potential to a far greater degree than he solidifies actuality, and then he puts Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and other comedic talents into his films, and sometimes they work out. Where his films are genius, it is more a result of the stars ability to make it play well than anything else. Let’s not pretend Club Paradise, Analyze ThisAnalyze This reviews (and That), and BedazzledBedazzled reviews don’t exist.

The truth is, some things seem like they’ll be rather funny, and then Bill Murray steps in and you’re a genius, whereas other things seem like they’ll be rather funny, and Jack Black comes along and acts routinely “Jack Black” at the thing and surprisingly it doesn’t amount to much. Still, I had to laugh at more than I thought (almost exclusively a result of Michael Cera… though he is also just “being Michael Cera”), and while the juvenile humor may pop up, Ramis isn’t going to fall too far toward the utterly stupid.

The film follows the rather unique idea that if a village of cavemen simply made it to the other side of their mountains, they’d find biblical characters, and get their chance to stick their thumb of the pie of human history. A crew of guest stars pop up, providing a good deal of the movie’s best chances at making you laugh, with David Cross’ morally-challenged Cain being a real standout.

The bumbling buddy adventure finds some connection in that their old villagemates and love interests keep popping up along the way, as does Cain, but it’s all just slapdash excuse for a plot that serves the gags we had in mind.

Though it’s easy to fault the film simply for not being particularly funny, which sounds fair enough actually, there’s really a bit more to it than that. The film’s problem is that it isn’t quite brave enough to go in a particular direction, and so it ends up a little of this and a little of that, and we aren’t working an area here that can stand up to wishy-washiness. There is a certain feel to the method which suggests a reinvention of something like Abbott & Costello Meet History, but things spin a little too schoolyard a little too often. At the same time, we might have went gone somewhere in the general realm of History of the World: Part I, but we’re not screwball enough here. Either of these options might seem a stretch, but I’m not so sure. Given the right actors we might have easily moved directions.

What we actually end up with is something that rolls out before you as though Ramis threw out a pitch off the cuff, and the response was that he had two months to wrap.

A flawed movie without question, but a bit unfairly bashed in general terms. The laughs are few and far between perhaps, but it doesn’t deserve to only beat The Love GuruThe Love Guru reviews by two percent on the Rottentomatoes.com freshness meter. There’s not particularly funny, and there’s unbearably awful, and they aren’t that close on the spectrum.

Rating:  

The DVD release, on the other hand, is not a bad effort all things considered. The commentary track with Harold Ramis, Jack Black, and Michael Cera is easily worth more than the movie itself. The gag reel, as you might expect, is pretty good, and the BluBlu-RayRay reviews version has a lot of fun included.

Bonus Material Included on All Versions

• 2 Deleted Scenes
• Commentary with Director Harold Ramis, Jack Black and Michael Cera
• 10 Extended and Alternate Scenes
• Line-o-Rama
• Gag Reel
• “Year One: The Journey Begins” Featurette

Unrated Blu-ray and Unrated DVD Exclusive Bonus Material

• Alternate Ending: Sodom’s Destruction
• Gag Reel (Unrated Version)
• “Sodom’s Got’em” Featurette
• “Leeroy Jenkins: The Gates of Sodom” Featurette

Exclusive to the Unrated Blu-ray Disc™ of YEAR ONE are the highly evolved special features “Year One Cutting Room,” which lets viewers create their own video using clips and music from the film, and share it on BD-Live™. YEAR ONE also includes the newest BD-Live feature from Sony Pictures: movieIQ, which lets viewers access real-time trivia information about YEAR ONE’s cast, crew, music and production, all while watching the movie (powered by Gracenote). The Blu-ray version also features cinechat, which allows movie watchers to send on-screen instant messages to friends around the world while watching the movie and, finally, a Digital Copy for playback on PC, PSP®, Mac or iPod.

Own it on DVD and Blu-Ray October 6th!

And, leave a comment and include the word, “Win,” and you are entered for your chance to own the theatrical release edition DVD. U.S. and Canada only. Winner will be randomly selected October 31st.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: Year One (cinematical.com)
• Year One review (telegraph.co.uk)
• Interview: Year One Director Harold Ramis (cinemablend.com)

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Tagged as: DVD, Harold Ramis, Movie Review, Year One