( CNN ) -- Comedy is n't evolutionary . Hollywood has been plundering ancient history for yuks at least since Buster Keaton 's day , and there 's little in `` Year One '' to suggest we 've progressed much over the last 90 years . Michael Cera and Jack Black go in search of meaning -- and some food -- in `` Year One . '' Quite the opposite , in fact . It 's a stretch to envisage Keaton picking up bear poop , as Jack Black does here , giving it an appraising sniff , then a quick lick . And I ca n't imagine him peeing down his own nostrils , as Michael Cera does ( he 's chained upside down at the time ) . Not to say this monkey business is n't funny ; these are the highlights of a relentlessly low-brow lark , notwithstanding several sophomoric speeches in a panicky existentialist vein . Black is Zed , a sorry excuse for a hunter in a tribe that has yet to discover the wheel . His buddy Oh ( Cera ) is even further down the totem pole , a mere gatherer . Neither is a hit with the ladies , and when Zed is exiled after stealing forbidden fruit , well , not even Oh wants to go with him -- though of course he does tag along . It 's no fun being a sidekick all on your lonesome . Co-written and directed by comedy veteran Harold Ramis ( `` Ghostbusters , '' `` Groundhog Day '' ) , `` Year One '' is little more than a series of juvenile skits dressed up in toga party glad rags . It rambles off into Old Testament territory when the boys stumble across Cain ( David Cross ) killing his brother Abel ( Paul Rudd ) , then arrive in the desert in the nick of time to save Isaac 's neck ( Christopher Mintz-Plasse ) from his zealous father 's knife -- though his foreskin is another story . Sorely lacking the anarchic edge that Monty Python brought to `` The Life of Brian '' and the sheer chutzpah of Mel Brooks ' `` History of the World : Part One , '' `` Year One '' is more akin to one of those old Bob Hope-Bing Crosby jaunts -- two guys bicker and banter in exotic climes , hopping from scrape to scrape without ever reaching the bottom of the barrel . Inevitably , Zed and Oh find themselves on the Road to Sodom , where Oliver Platt 's plummy High Priest orchestrates orgies in the afternoon then presides over human sacrifices in the evening . It is in Sodom that the boys will prove their manhood . Black 's manic over-reacher and Cera 's shy mumbler complement each other well enough in theory , but at 39 , Black is almost old enough to be the 21-year-old Cera 's father . It 's a big age gap for a comedy duo , and they never quite mesh or convince as bosom buddies , even if they 're fairly amusing separately . Among the supporting cast , only Hank Azaria 's fundamentalist Abraham really seizes on the possibilities ; he and Platt deliver the goods . Too many others , on the other hand , just seem to have dropped by to hang out for a day or two on set . Typically , neither Juno Temple nor June Diane Raphael gets any breathing room as the heroes ' designated distressed damsels ; Ramis ogles female flesh as enthusiastically as he milks homophobia for cheap laughs . Bearing the tell-tale scars of slash-and-burn post-market testing editing -- several early scenes simply hit a brick wall -- `` Year One '' is n't an out-and-out disaster . It 's just another feeble comedy that never finds its rhythm or builds up a head of steam . iReport.com : Share your review of `` Year One '' It was probably a lot more fun to make than it is to watch , but we 'll have to take that on trust . Even the outtakes played alongside the end credits are n't funny . `` Year One '' is rated PG-13 and runs 100 minutes . For Entertainment Weekly 's review , click here .
`` Year One is a feeble comedy , says CNN.com 's Jack Black . Jack Black film stars Michael Cera and Michael Cera , but few laughs . Black and CNN.com play Stone Age tribesmen who meet biblical figures .