Zombieland (2009) is a comedy about 'just trying to get by' in a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested world. The main character "Columbus" (played by Jesse Eisenberg) believes that the only reason he as survived so long is the fact he is a natural loner and that he holds himself to a strict set of rules to survive. Along the way Columbus meets people that he may have to bend some rules for.
One of the nice things about Zombieland is the simplicity of the film. The story is very simple, the characters are all very simple and straightforward, hell even the disease is very simple. This is so refreshing in a world where every film feels like it needs to have a very complex plot (with twists and all) and over complicate everything so much so that they often trip over themselves. Zombieland keeps everything simple so that it can just spend as much time with the characters and the humor as possible.
Another thing I really liked about this movie is how fun it is. This is a movie you will want to sit down and watch within a year again because the journey of these characters is just plain fun to watch. I think this is where I should put a nod to the first time feature director Ruben Fleischer who has a background in commercials and music videos. He seems to have a good sense of pace and timing and also keeps things visually interesting. I love when the text comes on screen for each of Columbus's rules this adds something that I would have never thought to do, but is very funny every time it occurs.
There's things that seem formulaic about this movie and there were a couple things seem a bit forced at times, but mostly I have just "nitpicky" problems with this movie like: Them traveling across half the US and only a handful of people are alive. And this is only supposed to be 2 weeks after the initial breakout? Another thing I thought could be better was (SPOILERS) early in the movie Tallahassee mentions that he lost his "pup" and then the film shows a quick montage of him playing with a dog, by the end of the movie it turns out that Tallahassee was talking about his son and this is corrected with a replacement montage with him and a little kid... but I think it could have been funnier and less confusing if Tallahassee used a more ambiguous term like my little "baby" or "little guy" and then have Columbus assume he's talking a bout a puppy (use the same montage and everything), then when it comes around again in the end it's less weird that he's calling his son a "pup". I think it would have made a lot more sense that way.
This movie is very smart. I loved how everyone's names were kept at where they were going and also this movie didn't just do a bunch of parodies of other movies (which it could have done very easily), instead the film focuses on a lot of jokes that make fun of American culture: Mad Cow Disease, Twinkies and rednecks. This movie is hilarious too, some of it is writing some of it is acting and some of it is situational, very diverse and very funny.
And last thing I gotta say is this film has probably my favorite cameo in a movie ever. That's all I'm gonna say about it, because I didn't have it spoiled for me when I first saw it and I hope others a can have that experience too.
Zombieland (2009) is a very fun comedy that has a lot of really memorable moments. Definitely worth checking out. 4/5 stars.
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