Zombieland:  Having Fun at the End of the World

            Zombieland takes the zombie apocalypse scenario and works upon the one point the fans of zombie movies agree upon:  it would be kick ass to experience.  It doesn’t matter that just about everyone you know is dead or that Twinkies are harder to find than one would expect,  what matters is that one gets the chance to do the forbidden things of the now extinct society -  bust up tourist trap gift stores,  drive the wrong way down a street and shoot weapons with wild abandon in public places.   The arrival of zombies means that things like rent, and bills and work and the assorted crap of modern living are all over.  People finally have to freedom to do as they please, at least until they wind up dead.  It might not seem like a good trade off, but it’s wise to make the most of it.

            Jesse Eisenberg is the narrator and Columbus,  a young and venerable nerd,  Woody Harrelson  is Tallahassee,  a good ol’ boy who has finally found the calling of his life in the zombie-filled landscape,  Emma Stone is Wichita a smoky-eyed con artist taking care of her sister,  Little Rock, played by Abigail Breslin.   Apart from the sisters, there is no reason for these four people to ever hook up.  They inhabited entirely different worlds before the dead started chewing up the living. But in the reality of Zombieland, anything and everything is possible.

            So despite the horror and the grief underlining their circumstances, this is a road trip comedy and better than most since there are zombies.   As a hallmark of the zombie movie, there are some gross out moments and most of those actually take place during the opening title sequence as various people meet their ends as the zombie infection spreads.  In fact, that opening shows the potential skills of  first time director Ruben Fleischer and the rest is rather standard story telling. 

            This is by no means a great movie.  It is a fun movie though, and worth seeing even if you’re not a big fan of the zombie genre.