“Zombieland” isn’t too concerned with how its particular zombie outbreak happened. Oh sure, there’s a passing reference to somebody eating some tainted meat somewhere and kicking off an apocalypse.
But, basically, most of humanity has already been killed off by the time this new horror-comedy opens. The undead roam the streets and a small band of survivors is road-tripping across the country is search of safe haven.
The first few minutes of “Zombieland” are full of glib voiceover and wink-wink zombie jokes. I was braced for the worst — after all, “Shaun of the Dead” has set a high bar for this kind of zombie slapstick.
Luckily, “Zombieland” stops hugging itself, mostly, and settles into a reasonably enjoyable, if blood-spattered, groove.
Jesse Eisenberg, recently of “Adventureland,” plays the fearful young narrator, a phobic sort who has survived the zombie plague by sticking to his list of numbered rules.
He teams up with gun-totin’ good ol’ boy Woody Harrelson, and they encounter the unpredictable Emma Stone (“Superbad”), traveling with her kid sister, “Little Miss Sunshine” gal Abigail Breslin.
The road-trip stuff is not bad and the movie almost forgets about the zombie threat for a while. (I’m not sure that’s a good thing.) Soon enough, there will be blood — and entrails, and brains.
The comic high point of “Zombieland” is unquestionably the quartet’s encounter with a famous movie star in his lavish mansion. I guess this is supposed to be a surprise cameo, so we won’t just blurt it out here. But jeez, what a score for the movie.
The survivors have heard rumors that an L.A. amusement park, a much chintzier version of “Disneyland,” is a zombie-free zone. That sounds doubtful, so you know there’s going to be a gory battle royale at the end — one which grows tedious, despite director Ruben Fleischer’s efforts to invent new ways of dispatching the undead.
Fleischer definitely has a comic touch, and a group of actors capable of delivering muttered asides, which are funnier than the film’s official jokes. Give credit for that, even if “Zombieland” never quite puts enough at stake — or explain the immortal dilemma in z-lore: Can zombies run or merely stagger?
“Zombieland” ½
Snarky comedy about four survivors road-tripping in post-apocalyptic America. It has uneven jokes and a going-nowhere quality, although one sequence featuring a big movie star is a real hoot. Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson lead the slaughter.
Rating: R for violence, language
Showing: Alderwood Mall, Cinebarre Mountlake Terrace, Everett, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Stanwood, Cinerama, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place, Woodinville, Cascade Mall, Oak Harbor
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