Year One

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A thoroughly, sometimes gaggingly broad and sly conceptual laugh-in.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Year One has one joke, but it's a good one, played for many variations over the course of an often very funny comedy.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

This is just silliness run mildly wild.

Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand

Dopey but resourceful yukfest.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It's the knockabout biblical lark Mel Brooks never got around to making.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

At best it's a bit like Mel Brooks' "The History of the World Part I" (except Ramis stops somewhere in Genesis); at worst it's like a Scary Movie-type parody of John Huston's "The Bible."

Slate Dana Stevens

I have a certain affection for this movie, if only because of its conceptual simplicity.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Year One is not really THAT bad and not ENTIRELY without laughs.

Variety Ronnie Scheib

Lacks seismic guffaws but elicits many mild smiles.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The humor, largely centered around bodily functions and bathroom habits, is almost exclusively sophomoric.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Josh Modell

Year One isn't dreadful; it just isn't nearly as funny as it hopes to be.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

A lot of comedic talent founders in this new Harold Ramis comedy that doesn't exactly recall his glory days of "Caddyshack" and "Groundhog Day."

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

There is no real plot either; instead the narrative seems designed to get this prehistoric pair from one funny sketch to the next, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

Empire Dan Jolin

Unless you pine for second-tier Mel Brooks, you'll find more laughs in the Old Testament itself.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

I found the most extreme material to be so tasteless that it voided all comedy.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Its script isn't worth the papyrus it's inscribed on.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The people who made Year One seem to think that all you have to do to make a hit comedy is get a bunch of jokesters together. But where are the jokes?

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Year One sets prehistoric comedy back at least 20 years.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

A lowbrow, only fitfully amusing comedy.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Perhaps the best that can be said for Year One is that it aims low and hits the mark.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A dreary experience.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Any good will the movie generates, though, is grated right back off by Black, whose obnoxiousness has lost whatever charm it once possessed.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The only people who should be peeved enough to raise hell about Year One are the viewers who had to pay to sit through it.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Creatively it's a giant step backwards.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

During all of the film’s oh-so-long 97 minutes, Year One, barely earns a snicker.

Premiere Robert Calvert

We loved this movie the first three times we saw it, when it was called "Life of Brian," "Wholly Moses," and "History of the World Part 1."

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

This is shtick that’s minimally a generation past its expiration date.

LA Weekly Robert Wilonsky

Unbearably painful from shrugging start to outtakes-laden finish, Harold Ramis’ half-assed, hare-brained return to writing and directing makes Mel Brooks’ equally muddled, soporific "History of the World, Part 1" look downright majestic by comparison.