Year One

Oof.  I’m not going to dance around this, I’m just to start off with it: this movie was bad.  I’ve heard of people saying a movie was so bad they didn’t even remember most of it, but I’ve always thought that was just something people said.  Until I saw this movie.  I just saw that trailer up there before writing this, and it was the first time I saw any footage of the movie since leaving the theater.  And there were parts of the trailer I did not recognize.

Before I go any further, I should note that the movie was criminally out of focus for about a third of the running time, and the theater I was in was filled with jackasses who talked and actually played games on their cell phones, with the sound on.  So this is also a lesson in theater etiquette, both for viewers and theater managers.  If you’re going to leave the film booth unmanned, at least check on it every ten minutes.

Of course, this all begs the question, If my movie-viewing conditions were more optimal, would my opinion be any different?  Well, not really.  The movie has an incredible amount of talent attached to it: Jack Black and Michael Cera playing Jack Black and Michael Cera, respectively, and Paul Rudd, David Cross, Hank Azaria, Harold Ramis (directing, writing, and starring), Bill Hader, Paul Scheer, and an assortment of upcoming female eye candy that will soon be gracing the cover of Maxim at a newstand near you.  Hell, I’d see any movie with a third of these names attached to it, you’d think that putting all these minds in a room would yield nothing short of brilliance.

But the movie just falls flat in every way.  It’s really better described as a series of sketches tied together with a common theme and the thinnest of plots.  The actors do a perfectly fine job in their roles- I think it comes down to the writing.  The jokes are worn out, predictable, and hackish.  I expected far better from Harold Ramis- a plot, for example.  But the movie really was just bad.  I should have known from the BIG RED TEXT:

Long story short, don’t go see this movie.  It’ll be on DVD in time for Halloween and TBS by Thanksgiving.  Wait till it’s 11:30 at night and you’re having “the dudes” over to pregame a huge party at the hockey house, and you need something to play in the background.  It’s really not worth paying too much attention to.