BEFORE: The last film had Robin Williams as a caveman (sort of) so let's stick around in ancient times for a while, before time-traveling back to the present. I could use a good comedy, after the last two films, which were way too serious.
THE PLOT: Zed, a prehistoric would-be hunter, eats from a tree of forbidden fruit and is banished from his tribe, accompanied by Oh, a shy gatherer.
AFTER: No, I said a GOOD comedy. Actually, this one was OK for a few laughs - the film mixes up the caveman experiences with references to Biblical times, and most of the humor is derived from Jack Black and Michael Cera playing their characters as if they have modern sensibilities.
Of course, the Bible chronology is thrown out of whack for the sake of comedy - Adam and Eve wouldn't have co-existed with Abraham and Isaac, or the town of Sodom - but sodomy is funny, so they need to be able to reference it...and since the Bible is a work of fiction anyway, who cares, right?
We also get to see the invention of things like the wheel, and French kissing, and we get to laugh at the primitive sensibilities of people who believe that sacrificing virgins will bring rain and a good harvest.
Unfortunately, the flip side is that the movie is sort of scattershot as Zed and Oh make their way through Mesopotamia and biblical history, and also gets sort of predictable (gee, Cain and Abel, I wonder how this sub-plot's going to end...)
Also starring Oliver Platt, David Cross (as Cain), Paul Rudd (as Abel), Hank Azaria, Harold Ramis (who also directed), Bill Hader (almost unrecognizable as a shaman), and Horatio Sanz (though I thought that was Danny McBride...)
RATING: 4 out of 10 spears
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