A Comedy With Braaaaaaaaaaains

(Courtesy Continue With Me Today Blogspot)

ZOMBIELAND (2009)

Starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin

You’ll like this movie if: You think a zombie apocalypse could actually be fun.

One thing I can’t quite figure out is why zombies - that’s the slow-moving, Dawn of the Dead kind of zombies - are particularly frightening.  What, is America really in the kind of shape that we can’t just outrun the slowest horror villains known to cinema?  And have we not figured out how to deal with zombies by now?

So a good zombie-based comedy, like Zombieland, is always fun to watch, even if the zombies are the sprinting, 28 Days Later kind.  For one thing, they treat the idea of a zombie outbreak the way it probably deserves - with a little bit of humor.  The people in this sort of movie end up having a lot of fun taking zombies out in particularly imaginative ways.

Case in point: Woody Harrelson’s character in this movie, “Tallahassee,” who really seems to enjoy it a bit too much, if that is even possible.  (Watching Zombieland, it’s easy to make the argument that it isn’t.)

But a lot of the movie actually doesn’t involve zombie killing.  The focus of the story is that age-old question: Is it possible to make friends during a zombie apocalypse?  Hey, we’ve all thought about it, and rightly so.  Really, if you haven’t at least considered what your zombie plan might be, you’re making a mistake.  There is no such thing as too early, folks.  And for those who say it can’t happen...it’s still a great conversation starter.  (Mine?  Armored RV up to Alaska.  Always a classic, and I hear the scenery is beautiful.)

To the characters in Zombieland, the answer to the above question is definitely no, to the point where they each avoid calling each other by their actual names.  It sounds excessive, yes, but in a world where most humans would sooner take a bite out of your arm than shake your hand, it also makes a small amount of sense.  And of course, it makes for a very nice message about the value of friendship, family, etc. etc.  (I put it to anyone reading this: Do we really, really need a message like that in every movie we see?)

The best parts of Zombieland are the parts where the characters come up with imaginative ways to kill the undead.  And there are some pretty good ones.  But this movie is a good one because it doesn’t limit itself to cheap zombie-based humor - and how easy would that have been?  There are a lot of good zombie-less jokes to be had, and one very funny cameo (which I won’t give away but which you probably know about).  Really, the single biggest criticism I have about Zombieland is that it’s just too durn short.  Seriously, not even an hour and a half?  You telling me there couldn’t have been a few more profanity-laced jokes or creative zombie destructions in there?  Some movies are too long for their own good - this one is too short.

But that’s a minor gripe on the long list of all-time gripes, and considering the film was fairly successful, the laws of Hollywood basically requires a sequel (or seven, why not?).  So it isn’t like we won’t have more chances to guffaw or cringe in the future.  And Zombieland, for a zombie movie, is quite light-hearted and doesn’t take itself particularly seriously.  And it might just give you some ideas for your zombie plan.