Zombieland

Where "Shaun of the Dead" failed, "Zombieland" fails as well. Where "Shaun of the Dead" succeeded, "Zombieland" only makes it halfway.

The latest entry into the zombie farce genre, "Zombieland" takes a ridiculous premise - the zombie apocalypse - and tries its best to make it funny. Key word: tries. Zombies eating people isn't funny. The whole intro to this movie is a twenty minute clip of Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) narrating visions of what happens when you don't follow his carefully planned out rules. When his rules aren't followed the person in the clip gets eaten/maimed/killed. Rule #1: Cardio. I got the pleasure of watching a morbidly obese man running for his life, in slow motion, away from one terrifying zombie. Columbus tells me how cardio is the most important rule of all. Then he says, "poor fat bastard," fat guy gets tackled by zombie and eaten in a very gruesome manner. Whole theatre laughs. I looked around in disgust and told myself if this whole movie was labeled as funny because people died and the movie was classified as a "comedy," I was going to walk out. Then "Zombieland" introduced its characters. This is where "Zombieland" succeeds. Quick, witty characters with fantastic dialogue.

If you could pick anyone who could survive and thrive in a zombie apocalypse, I would pick Samuel L. foot-to-rear-end Jackson. First-time director Ruben Fliescher picked a nerdy, extremely OCD college kid, Columbus. His name isn't really Columbus, all characters in the movie call each other by where they are from. Columbus is trying to get to his home in Ohio (duh) and survives only because he follows strictly to his rules. Without his rules his entrails would long ago have been pulled out of him. Enter Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a gun-toting certified bad-ass with a southern accent and a love for killing zombies. Tallahassee's one goal in Zombieland is to find a twinkie. They travel across the US, looking for twinkies, and eventually come across Wichita (Emma Stone, "Superbad") and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"). Wichita informs Columbus that Columbus is a ghost town and that they are headed for Pacific Playland in California, the last zombie-free spot on earth. Columbus and Tallahassee join them and that's pretty much the entire movie. At an hour and twenty minutes there isn't much else to describe.

The zombies in "Zombieland" aren't the slow shuffling type, they are the fast, brutal kind, reminiscent of "28 Days Later." They are more of an annoyance during the film. The parts where the zombies play a big role are significantly less funny than ones where only living people are on screen. Once the characters show up, this movie gets pretty good, and very funny. All of the characters play off of each other amazingly, and Woody Harrelson gets my vote for second funniest role in a movie this year. (First goes to Zach Galifinakis for "The Hangover").

"Zombieland" is pretty funny. It has the greatest cameo appearance of the year (watch for it, it's brilliant). While the characters and dialogue make this a funny movie, it certainly isn't required viewing. "Zombieland"'s horror movie feel, and half-hearted attempts at drama fall flat. It is a good entry into the zombie farce genre, but if you want a fantastic movie that does it ten times better, go see "Shaun of the Dead".

Grade: two and a half stars

-Christopher O'Connell