Zombieland Review

Zombieland sounds like some sort of twisted amusement park and it kinda is. It's also a major motion picture of the horror-comedy variety.  "What?!?", you say?   That's right.  You can now say to the missus or mr., "Let's go see us a funny zombie movie!  That thar Zombieland!"   and not be drunk when you say it!  See, the world caught a virus and it turned most everyone into the modern zombie type.  You know, the ones from 28 Days Later who aren't undead, but are, instead, the worst most unimaginable sort of insane.  Not only are they insane flesh eaters, but they are fast!  And in Zombieland they are simply served up as splatter fodder to help move the story along.

Zombieland is really about a road trip.  And it all starts with a character played by Jesse Eisenberg, who also narrates the film.  See, he's somehow survived this zombie apocolypse, and he tells us how he did that as he pulls into a gas station in Texas to find a bathroom.  In fact, he's compiled a "Zombie Survival List" of rules that pop up on the screen from time to time.  Rule #1?  "Cardio".  Yep, so you can outlast the zombies in a foot race.  His observation being that the first to be killed and eaten by the creatures are the "fatties", who can't get away.  There are ultimately 32 of these rules to include "double tap" and "beware of restrooms", along with scenes showing what happened to victims who failed to follow them.

Our unlikely young looking hero meets up with Woody Harrelson very early on as he drives across country to see if his parent have survived.  Of course, they trust each other not at all and, after Harrelson's character offers him a ride, they decide to not know each other's real names to avoid forming attachments. Instead they name each other after their destinations with Eisenberg becoming Columbus and Harrelson being Tallahassee.

Tallahassee, in addition to being  a tried and true redneck who enjoys employing various method for killing the zombies, has another mission.  To find all the Twinkies he can.  He loves those little yellow cakes and believes, contrary to popular opinion, they DO have expiration dates!  He's also hiding a little secret that drives him to kill all the zombies he can find.   He relishes flushing them out and killing them with tire irons, shovels, car doors, and yes, even a banjo.

As they team up and head up the road, they happen upon two healthy women, at least physically, in the persons of the sexy hot Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abagail Breslin) who is actually young girl.  Trust issues once again arise, not to mention the women are con artists, and the two teams chase each other down the highway for a while before forming an uneasy quartet. I might have a hard time trusting anyone, too, if I was always afraid the next person I ran into might eat my face.

So, while the men want to get to Columbus and Florida, the girls are headed in the opposite direction.  Both camps have heard there are "zombie free" zones on the other coast, which of course alludes to the rumors that might fly during a time like that. But men being men, dudes agree to go with the women to the one place Wichita wants to go, the allegedly zombie free  Pacific Playland amusement park.  She just wants Little Rock to have one more good time as a child and thinks this place will do the trick.

And wind up the Pacific Playland they do, dragging a hundred zombies with them for a final "showdown" if you will.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Columbus and Tallahassee actually make a fine Mutt and Jeff type duo and have an easy chemistry that make us like them as a team.  Of course, when the women get involved attraction sometimes gets in the way of common sense, and the boys make some amusing mistakes.

If Zombieland thus far sounds a little like Dawn of the Dead on wheels, let me assure you it is not.  Not much is taken seriously here and everything is pretty much played for laughs, sometimes to the detriment of the story. But that's okay, because this movie moves right along, with some really funny moment, to include an old lady avoiding "death by zombie" by dropping a grand piano on said zombie's head.

There is also a wonderful cameo by one of our finest comedic actors that borders on genius. In fact, Tallahassee takes the foursome to said actor's Hollywood mansion to hole up for the long haul, before they go visiting an amusement park.  What they don't count on is that star actually being alive and home. Said actor is the perfect fit for this role.  Nuff said about that.

Zombieland is inventive, ingenious, and just a whole bunch of fun to watch. Plus, if you like your zombie movies violent and bloody, your wish is granted. Wichita is smart and sexy, Columbus is smart but naive, Tallahassee is street smart and driven and all play thier roles to the hilt.  And, they make us care if they make it out of Zombieland alive or not.  Oh, and never has a monster movie made me laugh so much.  GRADE: B+