Zombieland

Wow guys, I can’t believe. I already reached my 200^th 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 200^th review. Stay tuned tomorrow for the next entry in “Halloween Month.”