Film review: Zombieland

Published on Thursday 8 October 2009 19:06

ZOMBIELAND (15) **** DIRECTED BY: RUBEN FLEISCHER STARRING: JESSE EISENBERG, WOODY HARRELSON, EMMA STONE, ABIGAIL BRESLIN

EVER since George Romero started believing his own hype by hammering home the political and social subtexts of his zombie movies instead of delivering entertaining, kill-crazy mayhem, the undead have been in danger of becoming shuffling bores on screen. It's a relief, then, to find a film unafraid to call a zombie a zombie.

The flesh-eaters of Zombieland are just that. The hideous result of a rapidly evolved form of mad cow disease, they exist solely to chase the lonely band of survivors (un)lucky enough to escape infection, something debut director Ruben Fleischer (working from a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) uses to fuel this furiously funny horror comedy.

The laughs begin with a slo-mo prologue that establishes the tongue-through-the-cheek tone, the source of the virus and Zombieland's hero and narrator. This is Columbus, a virginal, awkward shut-in with irritable bowel syndrome whose lack of social skills has equipped him well for life in a country decimated by the living dead.

Played with jittery self-deprecation and sweet-natured nerdiness by Jesse Eisenberg (riffing to hilarious effect on his Roger Dodger/Adventureland screen persona), in the few weeks it has taken the zombie pandemic to wipe out most of the population of the United States, he has survived by adhering to a strict set of rules that are flashed up on screen every time they're put to use in the action – a savvy joke that gently mocks the groaning clichs of the genre and grows tired precisely never.

Columbus is also an amusing counterfoil to Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), the sweet-toothed, Snake Plissken-style zombie-zapper he throws his lot in with. Together, they take on the undead in their efforts to escape their previous lives, along the way uneasily bonding with a pair of grifter sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) determined to get to an LA theme park they've heard is a zombie-free zone.

Plot-wise, that's about it – romance, friendship and family themes are telescoped into the fleet-footed action, but Zombieland isn't constrained by a need to create a scary, tension-heavy scenario. Instead, it focuses all attention on creating gut-busting jokes, even taking a detour to incorporate an extended cameo from a well-known comic actor whose involvement helps ensure this is the flat-out funniest horror film since Shaun of the Dead.