Wow guys, I can’t believe. I already reached my 200th
review. For today, I will treat this review with care because I’m going to look
at a comedy that you guys should definitely check out for this month. I’m of
course talking about none other than the 2009 comedy, “Zombieland.”
There’s no doubt about it: Zombies are funny. RogerEbert even said, “I think they stopped being scary for me along toward the end
of "Night of the Living Dead." OK, maybe in a few others, like
"28 Days Later."” They’re like the Energizer Bunnies of corpses, only
there just to be smothered in blood. Would you have guessed that a funny movie
like “Zombieland” could have been made about zombies? No thanks to the zombies.
The movie is narrated by our hero played by Jesse
Eisenberg, named after his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, who is traveling back
home across America which is now zombie-infested. The landscape is scattered
with burned-out cars and corpses. He meets up with another survivor of the
zombie attack, Tallahassee, played by Woody Harrelson. The two meet up, not
without having a lot of disagreements, and eventually encounter two women
survivors: the drop dead gorgeous Wichita (Emma Stone) and her little sister
Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).
The plot comes down to a road movie where the Undead
are the enemies, as a handful of zombies are shot, mashed, sledgehammered and
otherwise troubled. Wichita and Little Rock apparently are con women,
destroying the hopes of Columbus, who has a crush on Wichita. Eventually they
all join in this odyssey to a Los Angeles amusement park, for no other reason
but because there’s no better location to have a zombie movie than at a
carnival. Even Ebert said, “Yes, even with a haunted house, the usual ominous
calliope music and a zombie clown.” Columbus, like so many others, has
Coulrophobia (fear of clowns), making Eisenberg a combination, since his mother
throughout grade school had him playing clowns at children’s parties.
Every single one of these things could have been boring,
but not here. Even Ebert said, “The filmmakers show invention and well-tuned
comic timing, and above all, there's a cameo by Bill Murray that gets the
single biggest laugh I've heard this year. The foursome hauls up at Murray's
vast Beverly Hills mansion, so palatial it is surely a grand hotel, and finds
him still in residence. More than that I will not say, except that not many
zombie comedies can make me think simultaneously about "Psycho" and
"Garfield."”
Eisenberg is a good actor and he plays a pleasant
nerd who has collected a seemingly endless list of survival tactics in the
United States of Zombies. Ebert stated, “These items are displayed in onscreen
graphics that pop up for laughs and include a tribute to the Back Seat Rule of
my Little Movie Glossary, which instructs us -- but I'm sure you remember.”
Woody Harrelson takes a large amount of enjoyment
when he kills the zombies, often refusing to kill the zombies with a gun but
instead uses car doors, tire irons and whatever else he can find. As usual, the
zombies are stupid, clumsy fools who obediently line up to get killed.
This is how Ebert ended his review: “Vampires make a
certain amount of sense to me, but zombies not so much. What's their purpose?
Why do they always look so bad? Can there be a zombie with good skin? How can
they be smart enough to determine that you're food and so dumb they don't
perceive you're about to blast them? I ask these questions only because I need
a few more words for this review. I will close by observing that Bill Murray is
the first comedian since Jack Benny who can get a laugh simply by standing
there.”
As everyone might have noticed, zombies have been
getting a lot of attention in the media over the last few years especially with
shows like “The Walking Dead.” That sitcom is really garnering the attention of
zombies. With all these other famous Halloween creatures like werewolves and vampires;
zombies seem to have more attention than before. But I digress, this is a funny
movie that all of you should check out if you haven’t. You will laugh so much
when watching this. I know I enjoyed myself watching this.
Thanks for joining in on my 200th review.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the next entry in “Halloween Month.”
No comments:
Post a Comment