Great visuals, great soundtrack, decent acting, terrible writing

Rating: 3/10 (6 February 2010)

I really really wanted to love this movie. I'm a long-time fan of Woody Harrelson and I really thought he did a pretty good job in this movie. However, there were some things wrong with this movie fundamentally that I just cannot get over.
First, let me say the filming, visual effects and editing are all top-notch. I loved the incorporation of the rules for survival in 3D titles throughout the movie. I even loved the fact that Harrelson just wanted a Twinkie, and I didn't find it to be too commercial, or just a "product placement". "I HATE SNOBALLS!!!" where he's jumping up and down on the pile of pink powder puffs outside the truck - that was hilarious.
**HERE COME THE SPOILERS**
Now onto the bad. Firstly - I didn't too much enjoy the main character, Jesse Eissenberg. He was underdeveloped as a character (I blame the writing). He wasn't terrible and at first I really thought he was going to be good in this movie. Then the girls came along....
Ugh. This is where the movie just bottoms out. First of all - I HATED those girls. Throughout the entire movie, myself and ALL my other friends were rooting for them to be either ripped apart by zombies or have their heads blown off by Harrelson. They never did anything in the movie that made the audience like them. They were snobby, controlling, conniving, backstabbing, thieving... WHY would you need to act like that when everyone else is dead? You can take anything you want, steal whatever, drive whatever, shoot whatever. And yet you decide to screw over the only two other living human beings who just wanted to help you? It makes zero sense.
The second time the girls showed up, when they stole their yellow hummer and kidnapped them, I found it ABSURD that within 5 minutes, Harrelson and Eissenberg liked these girls. I would have ripped their heads off.
Then it continues to get worse... a GREAT cameo by Bill Murray, except he's being retarded and scaring people with loaded guns. Of course, he gets shot, and that's the end of that. Not funny, just a bummer. Yet another reason to feel dirty for watching this crappy movie.
I won't go into the rest, as everyone here mostly covered it. Things like, why did it take the girls 4+ hours to get to the amusement park, and the guys got there in about 20 minutes? Why did the girls turn the power on at the park? How was there even power at all? Why did they think that place was zombie free? The first thing I'd do when I looked for a "zombie free" location would be find other survivors, stay low and quiet, and set up a camp. Not get on rides that whirl you around, play loud music and shine blinding lights all over the valley. These girls are so STUPID.
Then, how did they start and stop the rides in the first place? And furthermore, why did the guys come after the girls anyway? They were ripped off and abandoned THREE TIMES by those stupid girls (wanted to use another word, but apparently I couldn't for the review...). GAHH it just makes me mad. This movie could have been so good. But crappy, rushed writing and completely unlikeable female characters ruin it. There's so many plot holes it's just a swiss cheese movie. So weak.
To sum up: the movie was pretty funny, Harrelson made it. WIthout him I would've walked out after 10 minutes. The writing is awful. The females in the movie are contemptible, you never want to like them or root for them - I'm still really mad that they didn't die. The music, editing, filming and other audio/visual aspects of the movie were terrific. Once again, great actors and a talented direction team create a steaming pile of zombie crap thanks to Hollywood writers. Such a shame, I really wanted to love this movie.
Shaun of the Dead was an order of magnitude better.