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Over the last few years, many directors have tried to recapture the dark and demented zombie comedy of director Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead. Unfortunately, though, none of those directors have been able to produce a zom-com that’s both action-packed and bitingly hilarious—until now.
In the two short months since the first zombie was discovered, the undead have managed to take over the country, leaving nothing but death and destruction in their wake. In fact, very few living, breathing human beings remain. But, for one college kid from Columbus, Ohio (Jesse Eisenberg), the paranoia and neuroses that turned him into a geeky loner have finally paid off—because his fears (along with his ever-growing list of rules for zombie avoidance) have kept him alive.
While ever-so-carefully making his way home from school in Austin, Columbus meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a tough zombie fighter who’s on a mission to kill as many zombies as possible while searching for the country’s remaining Twinkies. Though Tallahassee’s convinced that survivors are strongest on their own (since they won’t have to worry about any emotional attachments), the two decide to travel together for a while. But when they meet another pair of traveling survivors, sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), Columbus’s rules start to change.
Rookie director Ruben Fleischer hits it out of the park with Zombieland, a zombie movie that’s gruesome and disgusting in the most hilarious of ways.
The zombie-killing action and suspense is nearly non-stop. You’ll just never know when (or where) another one will pop up, so you’re guaranteed to spend most of the movie on the edge of your seat, eagerly awaiting the next burst of gore and gunfire. And even though the kills are generally pretty revolting, they’re often so ridiculously creative that you’ll find yourself laughing your way through the film’s most shocking (and blood-drenched) scenes.
But (like Shaun of the Dead) Zombieland is more successful than the average zombie movie because there’s more to it than just a couple of guys killing zombies in outrageous ways. It also boasts a sharply-written script that’s filled with both ongoing gags and memorable one-liners. There’s even a hint of romance, as Columbus’s instant crush on Wichita tends to get him into all kinds of trouble.
Best of all, there’s the small but strangely lovable cast of eccentric characters—from nervous and nerdy Columbus to Twinkie-loving, gun-toting Tallahassee (as well as a brilliantly comical cameo, which I wouldn’t dream of spoiling). While the younger characters are fun to watch, though, Harrelson, especially, is wildly, irresistibly entertaining. You’ll never know what he’ll do next—but you can safely assume that it’ll be big and loud and completely over-the-top.
Smash all that together, and you’ve got a wild and crazy zom-com with a wonderfully sick and twisted sense of humor. It’s bizarre and outrageous. It’s gruesome and romantic. And it’s frightfully funny—so much so, in fact, that it might just beat Edgar Wright at his own game. Don’t let anything—not even a widespread zombie outbreak—keep you from seeing it.
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