Not Shaun of the Dead. This movie is a ploy.

Rating: 3/10 (15 October 2009)

Being a big fan of zombie cinema, I was pretty pumped to check out this film. The trailers for the movie, I thought, were pretty sparse with anything except for zombies getting murdered, which is always a good time.
However, about a half hour into the movie, it dawned on me that this movie was basically shamelessly pandering to the hipster generation. Laced with dozens of indie hits, Zombieland's soundtrack seems to be more interested in being considered cool than complimenting the movie. This, coupled with the constant on-screen titles (Rule #1: Cardio, Rule #2: Double Tap, etc.) seem very self-indulgent. These jokes are funny when initially introduced, but lead to groans when you see them for the 20th time. It is almost reminiscent of Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide, but 'stupided down' for people who don't take the dead rising seriously. I understand that it is a comedy, but to compare it to Shaun of the Dead, an homage to George A. Romero's movies that takes care to establish the nature of the dead, and not rely on the notion that everyone watching the movie 'gets' zombies, further gives the movie the feeling that it is cashing in on a recent phenomenon.
Woody Harrelson is amusing, but he is almost out of place in the film, especially alongside a 12-year old member of the cast, who has no business being alive amidst the undead apocalypse. There is a pretty clever scene involving Bill Murray, but considering how long you have to wait through the movie before it happens, and how much more there is after the scene, it hardly makes up for the rest of it.
*MAJOR SPOILER BELOW*
Not one character dies. This is sacrilege in this genre. Further, it doesn't add an ounce of suspense or depth to the film, because you can tell no one will die from the start of the film. The movie has an atmosphere of being a children's movie (beyond the swearing, which, if they had cut it out, this could have been PG).
In summary; wait for it on video, watch it once, enjoy it (or don't), and then forget about it. This movie isn't worth cult status - it just wants to cash in on trends.