Zombieland

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2010)

It's been a stressful time in my life the last few years, and very few movies seem to entertain as they once did. And, in honesty, there really have been few horror movies of any kind that have left any indelible mark. Zombieland was just what the doctor ordered. While it was inevitable that Zombieland would be compared to Shaun of the Dead(unfairly, I believe), I think this film stands on it's own merits as a really entertaining zombie comedy with pitch-perfect casting.
We spend most of our running time with four people as they evade zombies while traveling cross country looking for wherever home may be. Jesse Eisenberg has been really smart in choosing movies and he's just right as a protagonist to center the movie around, a narrative voice to the plague that has depleted his homeland, and how his life was forever changed when he met a rowdy cowboy with a Twinkie obsession, mourning the passing of his "puppy", "Tallahassee"(Woody Harrelson). Tallahassee just pulls up in a Caddy, as the two point shot guns at each other in a standoff, not knowing that they would join together on a trek which would unify them. Destroyed cities with decimated vehicles and devastated streets are stops along the way as Columbus(Eisenberg)and Tallahassee become inadvertently involved with two sisters, Wichita and Little Rock(Emma Stone & Abigail Breslin), quite the con artists, who are able to trick them into handing over guns and the Caddy. This chance meeting, in a grocery store as Tallahassee's quest to find the golden Twinkie knew no end, would, unbeknown to all parties, only be the beginning of their times spent warding off zombies and searching for room and board.
Zombieland is as much about the bonding of four people whose relationships evolve as they attempt to stay alive, as it is about zombies. The root cause of the zombie outbreak is mad cow disease and the viral freaks are a grotesque bunch with black blood spewing from their mouths as they loot and scavenge for fresh meat. The zombies are often an afterthought, taking a back seat, at times, to the four characters journeys across the nation and their burgeoning friendship.
Not overlong, and rather even-paced, with a fantastic cameo when our gang stop off at the Hollywood mansion of Tallahassee's favorite actor. The names of the characters stem from Tallahassee's desire not to become too involved emotionally with those he meets. Harrelson is a riot as the roustabout who may seem to want to remain a loner, when we can tell he has been needing the company of a pal for sometime. Eisenberg is wonderfully cast as a nervous virgin with a host of phobias, who takes a shine to the cute Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin finally gets a chance to star in an adult movie..his list of ways to protect yourself against zombies is an amusing device throughout the film. Plenty of zombie heads are shot or caved in by large weapons. The theme park finale is a showstopper(..how rides are used to defend themselves against zombies have to be seen to be believed, quite imaginative and clever).
The young hottie, Amber Heard, has a small role as a neighbor of Eisenberg's who wishes to crash at his joint after a zombie attacks her, startling him in the morning, withholding a secret that nearly costs him his life. It's no surprise to me this movie was a hit, it has all the ingredients to be successful. Harrelson as a gun-toting bad ass is about all I could really hope, wish, or ask for.