Men of the ‘Year’?

This year marked The Hangover star Zach Galifianakis’ arrival as a kind of new Jack Black, but the genuine article’s latest comedy is new in stores this week, and it probably proves Galifianakis’ timing couldn’t have been better. Year One stars Black and Michael Cera as two dimwitted hunters and gatherers who leave their village to wander through a series of Old Testament and world history-spoofing situations in a hit-or-miss update on Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part 1 and Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. Though helmed by Harold Ramis and written by two writers from The Office, the film starts of promising with plenty of caveman chuckles, but devolves soon after that into a comedy that will probably only appeal to Jack Black diehards. Hank Azaria, David Cross and Olivia Wilde co-star. Rated PG-13.