Sep. 30, 2009 - Issue #728: Fall Style 2009

Zombieland

Unless you're particularly into schlocky gore, zombies are usually the least interesting part of any zombie movie. Shambling metaphors, unlike, say, vampires, they're usually at their best when they're showing us something about humanity, as opposed to what they can do. Though it certainly has its fair share of ridiculous gore, especially in its opening montage, Zombieland works because it understands that lesson: like its more successful spiritual predecessor, Shaun of the Dead, it doesn't trouble itself with a lot of the hows and whys of the zombie plague, nor even really all that many zombies, when you get down to it. Instead we get a ramshackle little buddy comedy/road trip movie that happens to be set in a world where the undead are trying to feast on the living.

Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) was a nerdy shut-in in the pre-zombie days, but almost getting eaten by one of his dormmates has inspired him to try to reconnect with his family, and he's trekking across America following his rules for survival, the specific text of which gets cleverly dropped in throughout the film. Early on, he meets up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), six feet of badass with a taste for Twinkies and a penchant for creative zombie killing, and not long after they're joined, in a sense, by Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), two resourceful young women headed to Pacific Playland (Disneyland without the money to pay for the copyright), which they hear is zombie-free.

There's a little sort of subtext about needing to hold on to those around you, but it's about as simply sketched as the group's westward momentum. Mostly, this is just character-driven comedy, albeit with a gaggle of characters trying to eat the main ones. The live folks are perfectly cast, though. Eisenberg is slowly getting typecast as the silent, awkward type, but he nails it here as ably as ever, his wistful, lovelorn stares made all the more ridiculous for the context, and his weedy arrogance played perfectly against Harrelson's gun-totin', man-child exuberance. Stone, who continues to be impressive—you'll probably recognize her from Superbad, but she was one of the better parts of both The Rocker and The House Bunny last year—is also spot-on, her natural cynicism also made a bit more comedically poignant with zombies running around.

And then there are the cameos. Mike White only shows up for two scenes, but his sleepy-eyed ineptitude is terrific, though it doesn't hold a candle to Bill Murray, whose Hollywood home the foursome crashes in on their arrival in LA. His serious roles haven't diminished his comedic appeal, especially when it's literally him being him: his casual admission that he was out playing golf earlier in the day is just about as funny as the Bill Murray-inspired art that hangs on his walls, and his repentance for Garfield.

This probably says more about what a mediocre year its been for comedy than the film itself, but nevertheless, Zombieland is probably the most straightforwardly funny film that's come out this year, a film that's maybe a little light on brains, but certainly has enough funny bone to go around.

Zombieland
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin

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