year one

i couldn't make up my mind on this inconsistent movie. at times i was amused, at times frustrated, and at other times, just plain bored. diana and i went to go see with with a couple friends recently, and i was interested because jack black can be really funny, and michael cera looked great in the commercials too. the unfortunate truth is that most of the good parts are all spoiled by the commercials. the story follows a couple hunter/gatherers as they get kicked out of their village and find themselves in the middle of a bunch of old testament bible stories. eventually they get to the city of sodom, where they must free the girls they long after. some of the stuff was pretty funny, like the interactions with the biblical cain and abel and abraham and isaac (i guess timelines go right out the window to service the jokes). at times it seemed like this was going to be a pretty witty farce of old bible stories, turning them on their head and making light of all the characters in them, but it turns out that those jokes are only in the film for about 10 minutes, then it meanders into broad comedy that is no longer witty, and also not very funny. over all, the first half hour is wonderful, witty, and really funny, the rest of it is pretty tired and
predictable.