Zombieland (2009)

Believe it or not I hadn't heard of Zombieland until a few weeks ago when I was browsing movie trailers on YouTube. After watching the trailer (which was hilarious) I was all set to see a film that usually doesn't appeal to me with a cast of actors I've either never heard or never cared a whole lot about. Needless to say, for a person like myself who rarely ventures to the theaters to see anything that doesn't star Russell Crowe, Kate Beckinsale or Rachel McAdams, and who definitely doesn't pay to see horror films, this was one of the few moments taking a chance on something different based on the trailer alone paid off!

In a world overrun by the living dead, those who manage to survive would be wise to adhere to a series of sensible rules to make sure they continue to stay alive. These rules were created by loner and nerd known as Columbus. Columbus has never been much of a people person, admitting before Zombies took over the world he avoided regular people as if they were Zombies, now he actually misses people. Searching for some family connection Columbus begins a journey home, on the way he runs into Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a gun toting, SUV driving redneck with a love of zombie killing and Twinkies. Together the two unlikely duo head east searching for any sign of human life. Along the way the two of them run into two sisters Wichita and Little Rock, it's a meeting which starts out a little rough, for the guys, but soon enough the four of them will realize it's better to stick together than attempt to survive alone.

Without a very deep storyline, Zombieland finds it's real success in the three C's: characters, comedy, and cameos. Columbus and Tallahassee cover the first two alone as the chemistry of completely opposite characters allows for almost anything to happen and for it to be funny. Columbus is played by Jesse Eisenberg, an actor I've never heard of before but would swear he was the younger brother of Michael Cera based on looks, personality and voice. Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee is a no-brainer just on Harrelson's resume of past work alone. Harrelson has that certain ruckus dumb wit about him that never seems to grow old. The two female roles are played by by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, personally I could have taken them or left them, they didn't add much personality to the film. Essentially they're purpose was to segway the more heart felt moments of the film, which added in a unique and interesting mix but also at times slowed the film down. As for the big cameo I don't want to reveal too much, but it's fair to say it's one of the better cameos I've ever seen and fits excellent into the film.

Overall, Zombieland is going to get a lot of comparison to a similar zombie romp entitled Shaun of the Dead, personally I believe Zombieland has it beat on all accounts. In fact I'll go as far as saying this is probably as good as any Zombie comedy/horror could possibly be, I don't believe a better film with the same type of premise and plot could be made. With that said Zombieland is by far the funniest comedy or horror of the year, whatever genre you want to throw it into, and if a horror non-enthusiast like myself got that much enjoyment out of this, then it must be good.

8/10