Funniest film of the 00s!

Rating: 10/10 (28 July 2010)

Much as I loved the Simon Pegg-Nick Frost-Edgar Wright vehicle HOT FUZZ from 2007, they're earlier film collaboration SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004) is a hell of a lot FUNNIER! For me, the main reason that HOT FUZZ worked was because it was more a great homage to all those 80s/90s action movies (with a bit of British horror sprinkled in there), with many nonstop, neat, nifty references throughout that reminded me lovingly of those flicks I grew up watching and admiring. Yes, HOT FUZZ is a comedy and a well done one, but at the same time, it is definitely more of an homage/tribute/action-oriented vehicle than it is a comedy. Whereas SHAUN OF THE DEAD falls more into the comedy/parody category and a damn funny one at that!
Directed by the super-talented Edgar Wright, SHAUN stars Simon Pegg (in a hilarious performance that was Oscar-nomination worthy) as the titular hero Shaun, a lazy, unambitious bloke who manages a London electronics store. Shaun's frustrated girlfriend Liz (the gorgeous and funny Kate Ashfield) implores him to make something of himself and stop hanging around with his even more shiftless best friend Ed (the eternally hilarious Nick Frost). Liz lives with her best friend Dianne (Lucy Davis in a wonderful, scene-stealing performance), whose boyfriend David (played with stoic, solid humor by Dylan Moran) once was in love with Liz. Shaun's mum Mary (gracefully played by Penelope Wilton) is married to Phillip (vet Bill Nighy), a man that Shaun despises.
This eclectic group gets thrown together one crazy day when flesh-eating zombies (is there any other kind?!) overtake London and they must work their way to the local pub, which SHOULD be safe! Along the way, the group runs into Shaun's friend Yvonne (hilarious Jessica Stevenson) and her group (an utterly funny scene), then before they navigate their way to the pub, Dianne (a wannabe actress) gets the group into character acting like zombies to fool the ones blocking the pub. Once in the pub, personal issues come to a boiling point that coincides with the group's chaotic situation (just like in any disaster film!).
What amazed me about SHAUN was how fast-paced it is. It almost plays like an action movie once the zombie attack starts. The film never really slows down and when it takes time for characters to confront each other, it never loses sight of the severity of the situation and in come the zombies! The humor is dead, solid, perfect, especially the way the characters naturally react to their undead attackers and use their wits (what little they have!) to overcome the situation.
Ironically, although I'm a sucker for horror-slasher flicks, the "zombie" sub-genre is the one that I like the least (I'm more into the psycho killer type flicks), but SHAUN is just so funny that it won me over! SHAUN blows the doors off the much ballyhooed, overrated remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD, which came out the same year and slowed down to the point of being a total bore and also had less talented actors in it than SHAUN does. SHAUN is about as funny as REAL comedy gets!