“Zombieland” Review: The Apocalypse Is Gonna Be Awesome, Dude

zombieland-poster
Copyright Sony Pictures

3 STARS OUT OF 5.

I can’t help but feel that zombies deserve more respect than this. The poor things used to represent big ideas, like the Vietnam War or consumerism or the AIDS epidemic. In Zombieland, the feature debut of director Ruben Fleischer, they barely represent anything other than the cinematic joy of wanton destruction. These zombies spend more time getting dispatched via banjo, car door, hedge clippers and more than they do actually menacing anyone.

In that sense, though, the movie is definitely tapped into the zeitgeist. We don’t seem to fear zombies anymore; rather, we actively fantasize about how cool it would be to live in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Zombieland, then, is an hour and a half of wish fulfillment: No, there won’t be any soul-crushing existential dread or lack of food and water! There’ll just be sweet cars and automatic weapons and hot chicks who love nerds! Hell, even the electricity will somehow be running!

The movie’s story centers around Columbus, a neurotic college student named for his hometown of Columbus, Ohio and played by Jesse Eisenberg, who is often seen as “the guy who’s like Michael Cera but not Michael Cera,” but hey, why should one actor have a copyright on awkward adolescence? Anyway, a zombie plague has more or less wiped out civilization in the USA, and Columbus is on a cross-country pilgrimage when he meets up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Wichita’s little sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). I don’t know why the sisters are from different states, but regardless, the four set out on a road trip that takes them through Texas, Hollywood (with a stopover for a distractingly bizarre but absolutely hilarious celebrity cameo) and finally to an abandoned amusement park.

The movie has a lot riding on these characters and their interactions (since it’s not like the zombies are going to provide any scintillating dialogue), and while the performances are likable and amusing enough, the screenplay ultimately keeps its characters a bit too soft and clichéd. Tallahassee is the most glaring example of this. He’s introduced in the beginning as an ultimate badass who’s “in the ass-kicking business,” but his badassness is instantly undermined by his obesession with Twinkies, a quirk which comes off both as product placement run amok and as a half-baked idea from a screenwriting workshop. Every other character also fits into a “type”: Columbus is the worrisome nerd, Wichita is the femme fatale and Little Rock is the precocious kid.

Still, Zombieland milks enough laughs from its living-dead slapstick to qualify as the Twinkie of zombie movies. It doesn’t have the nutritional value of George A. Romero, or even Shaun of the Dead, but it should satisfy anyone looking for a skull-bashing, flesh-munching sugar high.

About Matt Hoffman

Matt Hoffman (COM/CAS '10) is a film writer for the Quad, and is currently majoring in Film and International Relations at BU. His writing can also be found at Pegleg Spinners, Super Tuesdays and Mania.com. He grew up in Connecticut and is not a pro BMX biker.

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