Zombieland delivers as advertised

One of my favorite reviews in Leonard Maltin's movie book is the one for Scooby Doo 2: "It is what it is." Of course, that's meant in a negative context, but the same comment could be used to review Zombieland in a positive context.

This has been one of the best marketed films of the year. The trailer was funny, and did a good job of setting up the concept: a comedy about surviving a zombie occupied world. The trailer showed many funny gags from the film but most of them are from the first few minutes, leading the film to be mostly unspoiled, other than the existance of the four major characters and that the finale takes place in an amusement park.

Jesse Eisenberg is the narrator of the film, and the film derives much of its humor from his zombie rules of survival. The first sequence demonstrates some of those rules visually, such as "Cardio," as he basically outruns two zombies. A lot of Eisenberg's survival involves avoiding rather than confronting the zombies.

Which is exactly opposite of the approach of the first human he meets in the film, played by Woody Harrelson. Harrelson's character is very much the destroy all zombies attitude. So the conflict driving the comedy is not just how the characters approach the zombies, but each other. Both do recognize the dangers of getting to attached in such a dangerous world, so we never learn the characters' names. Instead they are dubbed by their hometowns, so Harrelson is "Tallahassee" and Eisenberg is "Columbus".

Before the amusement park climax, they will meet up with sisers played by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, who are dubbed repectively Wichita and Little Rock, and a very funny star cameo I will not reveal here (although to say I am not referring to the Mike White brief appearance).

The four human leads play their roles straight, letting the humor of the script develop in a natural way. Playing the film as a "comedy" would not have worked here. Credit goes to director Ruben Fleischer for finding the right pitch to play the film.

Is it a great film? Not really. It is a bit short, and does have a couple of lagging patches. But for me, the film has a laugh ratio well into the recommend level. If gross effects distract you or the concept disgusts you, this isn't your film. But if the trailer or the concept has you interested, by all means check it out.

It is what it is.

Grade: B+