A Funny Romantic Comedy

Rating: Null/10 (26 September 2004)

Listen I know how it is. Sometimes when you go out to the movies you wanna laugh. Sometimes you wanna watch two nice people fall in love, and if you're like me you wanna watch zombies rip people apart. But sometimes when you go to the movies don't you just long to see a romantic comedy in which Zombies rip people apart? Fear not reader, SHAUN OF THE DEAD is the film for you.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD follows our hero Shaun (Simon Pegg, 24 Hour Party People) on journey to win back his girl Liz (Lucy Davis, TV's The Office), make amends with his Mom (Nicola Cunningham), and to fight off a small London Suburb of Zombies. Shaun enlists the help of his slacker best friend Ed (Nick Frost, TV's SPACED), and Dianne (Lucy Davis, TV's The Office) and David (Dylan Moran, Notting Hill) Liz's two best friends, who don't seem to like Shaun Very Much, but they follow him anyway cause Liz follows Shaun. It's all very complicated but once you let the characters take hold, this film is a trip.
Director Edgar Wright (TV's Spaced) has crafted a silly and yet surprisingly rich film. Full of characters worth rooting for, gore that harkens back to a simpler time when it was okay to disembowel in horror flicks, and conflicts that enlighten our characters with humanity. It's a film about how mundane and Zombie-like our lives are, and about our search for that hero inside. But more importantly the film is about being funny. Laugh out loud, gutt-busting, funny.
Pegg's Shaun hits the right chords as a guy who wants more out of his life, but is drawn back into his slacker existence because he doesn't know any better. He's every Tom, Dick, and Harry who looks at themselves 10 years after graduating from college and wondering, 'how did I get here?' That's easy he's been sticking up for a buddy who has as much drive as a broken down Ford Pinto and that's what makes him a great hero, he's empathetic to a fault.
But most are probably wondering what about the Zombies. SHAUN OF THE DEAD works because the screenplay loves the material. As screenwriter's as well,
Pegg and Wright don't allow the material to become mean spirited. They love the Zombie movie. I'll bet they sat up many late nights watching NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAWN OF THE DEAD over and over. There's even a small wink at 28 DAYS LATER won't fall on deaf ears. They know the material well and walk the thin line between spoof and homage, to a nice degree.
The best scene in the film concerns one characters death, by being bitten by a Zombie. Nobody wants to shoot that character (who will eventually become one of the undead) and they're torn on both sides. A showdown of broken bottles and a corkscrew, tests the characters will, and in the end brings them closer together. The scene works because there is real tension. Although this is a comedy, these characters are in peril. It was exhilarating.
The film's only major flaw is that it takes far too long to get started. The first twenty minutes drag on like they were being paid by the minute. The laughs at the beginning seemed to be forced and if I'd left before the Zombies begin to show up I might have panned the movie as boring. But once the Zombies show up the film comes to life with really good laughs, and even a few good scares chucked in for measure. SHAUN OF THE DEAD would have done well to have had the early moments of the film re-imagined or shaved a little. But I'll forgive the film this one small flaw. I really liked it.
At the end of the day though the most surprising thing about SHAUN OF THE DEAD is what its not. It's not a Horror film. It's a Romantic Comedy, turned on its head and it works almost flawlessly. In fact my wife called it 'FORCES OF NATURE with Zombies (instead of weather).' I don't know if I'd go that far but I will agree that there is a little romance for the lady in your life.
If you're looking for something a little different, if you're looking for a silly movie with heart, or you like to watch people get ripped apart limb from limb. SHAUN OF THE DEAD does not disappoint, I promise you'll like it.
****1/2 (out of 5)