Zombieland

"Zombieland"
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Grade: B

Zombieland exists in the sub-genre of Zombie films, with other films like Shaun of The Dead and Fido coming before this one, Zombieland adds it's own twist and originality to the genre. It plays as a Zombie film survival guide as the lead character stresses many rules as they pop up as text throughout the film. Never go in bathrooms, the importance of cardio when fleeing from Zombies, never being a hero, etc.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Columbus, an anxiety fueled teen who models the actions and expressions of every role Michael Cera has ever played. Eisenburg is a good actor, but his roles can be classified as poor man Michael Cera roles. Columbus tells the audience that most of country has been destroyed in a comic book type Apocalypse manner. While the film certainly isn't bleak, there's humor in the decay of the country.

Columbus soon teams up with an eccentric redneck who has a pension for Twinkies, this man is Tallahassee, played by Woody Harrerlson. They're complete opposites, but mutual survivors of this zombie plague. Tallahassee demonstrates his despise of zombies throughout the film, much to Columbus' disgust. The duo run into a couple of female con-artist sisters played by Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone. The duo becomes a foursome after some small plot twists and don't get along all of a sudden.

The characters each have separate destinations, as Columbus looks to get home, Tallahassee seeks out fresh Twinkies, which serves as a re-occurring and awkward subplot, and the sisters look to find safety in California. The film is fun, scary at times, and breezy at 85 minutes, but the last act suffers from lazy writing and plot conventions. Throughout the film we learn small tidbits about the characters through flashbacks, some of which succeed in being funny, some of which are filler.

There's a great cameo about halfway through that shouldn't be spoiled. Some may guess who it will be at a certain point, but the build up and the outcome of the situation may be the funniest scene of the whole year. More than half of the film is predictable, and while the humor isn't always there, it's fun being in the company of the characters for most of the run-time. Zombieland doesn't represent the best of it's own genre, but there's enough blood, laughs, and gags to serve it's purpose.