But I did see Zombieland, with my brother, sister, and nephew Joe. And boy am I glad. I am now immune to gore. I screamed, oh, the first six times (sorry Joe!) that a vomiting, ravenous, stiff-legged goul popped out, or up if the popping happened in a bathroom stall (which it did, twice). But laughter became an antedote to terror: by the end those zombies were no scarier than flies. Their piling-up bodies just so much dirty laundry.
But what makes Zombieland more than zany-zombieflick-satire is the love story. I'm liking these new geekboy characters, played so well by Michael Cera in Juno. Jesse Eisenberg's gentleness stands out starkly against the exagerrated to the point of mania machismo of Woody Harrelson's Tallahassee. But even Tallahassee falls for the kid and starts coaching him in that brusque tough guy way. If these are the last four not-undead humans left, the future of mankind looks pretty good. As long as they can tear themselves away from World of Warcraft. Jesse Eisenberg' character, Columbus, has devised these rules for surviving the zombie apocalyse. Like always check the back seat (thank you) and always kill the zombie twice -- the double-tapp. Rule 30, I think it is, adopted from the carefree Tallahasee (Woody Harrelson) says - Enjoy the little things. And I did enjoy this little movie. Only Bill Murray can get three, yes, three good laughs while dying of a gunshot wound to the chest. And only Woody Harrelson can make finding an intact Twinkie the climax of a movie.
And, hey, in this ecomomy, any film that employs that many extras with that little talent deserves our disposable income. So I'm going to have to suprise myself and give this gore-fest cum love story four stars (out of 5) - Way Cool. Can't wait to see what TAZ thinks.
