Targeted at a specific audience...namely 21-year-old males who still read comic books and listen to Van Halen

Rating: 4/10 (26 September 2011)

Crassly-funny zombie flick from screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, designed like a movie pinball machine replete with guts and gun-toting glory. A ravaged world of flesh-eating zombies is pitted against disenfranchised youth Jesse Eisenberg and über-macho, Twinkie-eating zombie-killer Woody Harrelson. Mostly threadbare comedic thriller, aimed at twenty-something males; although occasionally prodding and amusing, the film gets completely lost while delineating Eisenberg's lack of romantic skills while wooing the ladies--which it does so determinedly. Second-half falls off sharply with an unfunny cameo from Bill Murray playing himself, plus a limp showdown with the zombies at an amusement park. Eisenberg's dryly self-assured presence brings out a sassy side to Harrelson which makes the actor more tolerable than usual, however the mindless destruction is predictable, obvious, and repetitive. ** from ****