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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/year_one.jpg]]
2
3->'''Zed:''' What are these big round things?
4->'''Cain:''' They're wheels, numbskull. They make the cart roll.
5->'''Zed:''' Wow!
6
7''Year One'' is a 2009 comedy film starring Creator/JackBlack and Creator/MichaelCera as a pair of weak hunter-gatherers in AncientRome who get caught up in a plot to rescue their tribe from the City of Sodom.
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9Zed (Black) and Oh (Cera) are would-be hunters who dream of becoming something more. After the duo is banished from their tribe (thanks to Zed eating from a tree of ForbiddenFruit), they embark upon a series of adventures, and run into various characters from Literature/TheBible ([[BeenThereShapedHistory influencing historical events as a result]]). The two are eventually captured and brought as slaves to the City of Sodom, where they discover the women they once pined for, Maya and Eema, have also been enslaved, along with the rest of their tribe. It's up to Zed and Oh to rescue their tribe and become the heroes they were meant to be.
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11The film features a large amount of AnachronismStew and features a wide assortment of noted comedic actors in bit parts, including Creator/HaroldRamis in both his final acting part and the final film he directed before his death.
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13Not to be confused with ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne.''
14
15----
16!!This movie provides examples of:
17* TheAbridgedHistory: If we were to take all of the historical facts behind ''Literature/TheBible'' at face value, we'd get this film -- a comedic AnachronismStew of BibleTimes and AncientRome.
18* AnachronismStew: For starters, we have the story of CainAndAbel, followed shortly after with Abraham and Isaac, and then a visit to the city of Sodom. An alternate ending even has the destruction of Sodom, and all of this happens in the span of a couple weeks at most.
19* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
20** If it ends in an "ee" sound, chances are Zed and Oh were accused of it in the LongList of charges against them, including... Puppetry.
21** Except of course, that "sodomy" is not a crime in Sodom. They are instead charged with [[BlackComedyRape "refusing sodomy"]].
22* BigBrotherInstinct: Eema and Zed were siblings. Later in the film, Zed saves Eema from a Roman commander.
23* BrickJoke: Cain killing Abel. Even though no one save for Oh, Zed and Adam really cares, any mention of the mark on his forehead causes him to deny the murder.
24* ButtMonkey: Oh. Others get their licks too, but if something bad happens, it's usually to Oh; it's almost always played for laughs.
25* CainAndAbel: Cain is arrogant and psychopathic, as he is portrayed in most modern works. He even gets a lightning bolt to the head.
26* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: After Zed teaches people to clap, [[spoiler:it starts raining]]. From that point forward, the rain begins whenever people clap and stops when they stop clapping.
27* CutHimselfShaving:
28-->'''Oh:''' 'Y-You were holding a rock and he ran into it with his face repeatedly until he couldn't pull through!'
29* TheChosenOne: Zed, who plays it up to the end until [[spoiler:he says he's not]].
30* EatMyDust: What Cain says to his father as he's fleeing on a slow-moving camel.
31* ForbiddenFruit: Zed eats golden apples that are forbidden, and a snake wraps around Oh. The fruit doesn't actually do anything, though.
32* GrossoutShow: This movie has lots of disgusting scenes.
33** Case in point, the oil rub scene, in which we get to see a gold-painted Oh massage a ''very'' hairy high priest.
34** Poor Oh urinating on his own face while he's hanging upside down in prison.
35* HappinessInSlavery:
36-->"I'm not a slave, I'm a volunteer."
37* HasTwoThumbsAnd: "Who has two thumbs and wants another hot oil rub?"
38* IncestIsRelative: Zed casually mentions how his sister, Eema, is quite hot and talks about how he'd be fine sleeping with her. His conversation with Oh exposes that he did in fact sleep with his own mother.
39-->'''Oh:''' She's your sister! That'd be like laying with your mother!\
40'''Zed:''' Which was a mistake... I see that now.
41* LethallyStupid: Zed. From impaling one of his fellow hunters with his spear during a boar hunt to setting the tribe's huts on fire, there's almost nothing that will stop Zed from making a terribly dumb decision.
42* LookBehindYou!:
43-->[[RunningGag ''What's going on behind you?'']]
44* MadeASlave: Most of the original village. Oh and Zed were able to run into the desert.
45* MisplacedWildlife: Early in the movie, Zed and Oh encounter a cougar (a strictly American cat) in what is presumably the Middle East; a leopard would’ve been a more accurate choice for the setting.
46* MistakenForGay: Oh is usually worried that Eema thinks this about him, and the eunuch thinks he is too.
47* {{Nepotism}}: The High Priest only got the job because he's the king's brother-in-law.
48* ParentalIncest: Zed mentions that he learned his lesson when things got awkward after he slept with his mother.
49* PottyFailure: In the scene where Zed and Oh are chained up in the dungeon, Oh (chained upside down) yells that he has to pee, and then he ''pees all over his face''.
50%%* PrincessesRule
51* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial:
52--> '''Cain:''' I wish you were dead too! Even though Abel is not dead at all!
53* TakeMeInstead!: When Eema is going to be sacrificed.
54-->'''Oh:''' [[RunningGag Why all the genital mutilation?]]
55* ToiletHumor: A fair amount, most notably when Oh, who gets chained to a wall upside down, and has a PottyEmergency all over his face.
56* ThrowingDownTheGauntlet:
57--> '''Oh:''' ''[gets whipped]'' Like to see how big you are without that whip!
58--> '''Slave Driver:''' [Drops whip, and raises arms in a BringIt gesture]
59--> '''Oh:''' [beat] [[OhCrap Same basic size.]]
60* VirginSacrifice: A common occurrence in Sodom, to the confusion and disappointment of Zed and Oh.
61-->'''Zed:''' I dunno, it seems like a waste of a perfectly good virgin to me.
62* WretchedHive: Sodom. The guards are corrupt and oppress the peasants, they still sacrifice virgins for rain (that doesn't come), there's slaves all over the place, and of course there's the sodomy.

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