Good Zombie Fun

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2014)

I was drawn to this by the presence of Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg in the lead roles. They're both good actors and I figured they'd make this worth watching. I wasn't disappointed. This was a fun movie to watch and Harrelson and Eisenberg both did great jobs with their characters.
Set in a time when the earth has been over-run with zombies after a plague, Tallahassee and Columbus (Harrelson and Eisenberg - the names of the characters refer to the destination each wants to get to) team up in their efforts to survive. Tallahassee is a tough as nails survivor who's afraid of nothing and who spends much of his time trying to find whatever twinkies might be left after all this time. Columbus is a socially awkward, nerdy loner who nevertheless manages to survive in this zombie-infested world and actually finds love in it as well! They were a pretty good team. They were matched with Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as Wichita and Little Rock (sisters). I'm less familiar with Breslin and Stone, but thought they were also quite good as thieves and manipulators who constantly try to run off with Tallahassee and Columbus's vehicles, but then are constantly brought back together with them. There's a really good cameo in this from Bill Murray as himself, who survives in this "zombieland" by disguising himself as a zombie in order to fit in - with ultimately tragic results!
This isn't your typical zombie movie. To be honest, I wasn't even clear that these were "real" zombies. Were they really the dead who came back to life, or were they just really, really sick people? It seemed to be the latter. It's also not really frightening (although there are a few of "jump" moments scattered throughout.) But it's a good, lighthearted take on the whole zombie concept, and it's fun to watch. (8/10)