Funny Zombies and such.

Rating: 9/10 (5 October 2009)

Zombieland is the next entry to the horror comedy genre. It is directed by Ruben Fleischer who did some episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live, but no movies. It stars Jesse Eisenberg who was in Adventureland earlier this year, which I thought was a very good film. It also has Woody Harelson in a rare comedic performance and he's brilliant in it. It also stars Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone. The acting is of course very high quality especially considering that 3 cast members are Oscar nominated actors.
The plot is very simple. The movie takes place in a time where the zombie apocalypse has occurred and America is now known as Zombieland. Columbus, who is played by Jesse Eisenberg has his own rules or surviving Zombieland and he's actually doing pretty well by himself. That is until he meets Tallahassee played by Woody Harelson and they agree to travel together to their destinations. Along the way they meet two sisters who are constantly stealing their car. The whole movie, they are travelling to their destination stopping to kill zombies. They are travelling to a Hollywood amusement park that is supposed to be zombie free.
It is important to note that that these aren't traditional zombies, but they are living people that have been infected with mad cow disease that has become mad human disease. It really isn't a big deal because there have been several great zombie films with this angle, such as 28 Days Later. I like that there isn't much of a plot to Zombieland because that leaves a lot of time for some really intense action scenes and jokes even though the movie is only 81 minutes long. It may sound too short but the movie itself is so satisfying that it feels like the perfect time.
Zombieland worked for me on so many levels. It happened to be the funniest film I've seen in a very long time. Not a single joke fell flat for me. I think this has the potential to be a comedy classic for years. Before Zombieland, I would say that the best zombie comedy was Shaun of the Dead, but I think it was a little funnier than Shaun of the Dead and a lot more fun. There's also an amazing cameo mid-way into the movie that has to be the best cameo in years. The audience was applauding during this epic cameo. I'm not going to be spoiling it here because it will not have the same effect if you already know who it is. The movie also had a good amount of gore and you could tell that it wasn't CGI. I was pleased that they didn't have too much CGI gore because it looked really fake and cheesy in some of the movies that were used in My Bloody Valentine and The Final Destination. That's all I have to say about Zombieland. I think it will appeal to different people. Both comedy fans and horror fans will both love this movie because there is a balance of both in here, though if I would have to pick one I would think that it is more of a comedy than a horror because everything is played for laughs. You shouldn't miss the best comedy of 2009. I give Zombieland a 9/10.