Review from a Comedy Snob

Rating: 7/10 (4 September 2007)

By way of explanation of this review, I should say that I've never been that in to comedies. My wife makes me laugh, my friends make me laugh, even a book can make me laugh, but for some reason the number of movies that make me laugh are very few and far between. 'Shaun of the Dead', for all the hype as being one of the funniest films in years, was amusing throughout, and on several occasions did, in fact, make me laugh, which from this reviewer, is very high praise indeed.
The story is pretty simple, with Pegg's Shaun leading a who's who of British sitcom actors through zombie infested city streets to hole-up, Romero-style, in a local pub. The zombies are never very scary, and there's never really much of a sense of real peril. The script contains genuine warmth and affection and Pegg and Frost are great, possessing comedic chemistry and timing, but judging from the out-takes, you wish that they would allow themselves the indulgence of diverting from the script, as their improvisational skills are often far funnier than the finished dialogue.
A last act disemboweling is the movie's only real nod to the visceral and messy violence of the genre, as can be judged from its 15-rating in Britain. I feel a certain amount of pride in the fact that England is able to finally produce popular movies without pandering to an American audience, but the lavish praise that has been heaped on this movie seems a little over-the-top. But what can I say? I've just never been that in to comedies.