Zombieland
starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Bill Murray
written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick
directed by Ruben Fleishcer
Rating: ◊◊◊◊◊
This is a really stupid movie. But it was so stupid that it was kind of funny and I laughed out loud more than once. It’s got Woody Harrelson in it, and sometimes you’ve just got to watch whatever Woody Harrelson is in. It’s a nerd’s movie, narrated by Jesse Eisenberg the nerdy leading man. (Eisenberg played Facebook founder Mark Zukerberg in last year’s The Social Network, which I haven’t seen yet, so this is my first experience of him.) It’s not just another zombie story like so many zombie stories before. It’s a pooling of every zombie movie cliché ever done for a deliberate over-the-top story.
Everyone in America has turned into a zombie because of the outbreak of some terrible virus. There’s no one left except a small group of survivors, like the in Andromeda Strain, or The Omega Man, I Am Legend, The Happening, The Book of Eli, The Road or dozens of other movies I’ve never even heard of. There is a lot of shooting with pretty cool looking guns. I was impressed by the fire power. Zombies were dropping everywhere, but still more were coming. Fortunately, the film gives us all the Rules we need to survive zombies, the same way that Scream tells us the rules for surviving a horror movie: always double tap your zombie victim; buckle up your seatbelt, you’re in for a bumpy ride; never try to be a hero; and try to enjoy the little things. There are more, but I forget them. I’m not particularly worried about meeting any zombies.
So often with these apocalyptic movies the survivors are traversing the continental United States in pursuit of the rumored safe area. Some say the safe haven is in the west. Some say it’s in the east. Either way, it’s a very American road trip. Even after the apocalypse they still find ways to travel, often by car.