Zombieland

To paraphrase and disagree with what his character Tallahassee says during the new film Zombieland, Woody Harrelson is capable of being good at more than one thing. He perfected the dimwitted bartender to comedic perfection on the television show Cheers and he has mastered the persona of a natural born killer during is film career. For this film the two blend in a crowd pleasing, enjoyable piece of pointless entertainment.
In fact pointless is certainly in vogue as this is the season when monsters take center stage in the national consciousness. Grown adults dress up as ghosts and ghouls while zombies eat the flesh of their victims on the big screen. Usually, movies with this theme are laughably bad. In the case of Zombieland, it is knowingly laughable. It has the gore associated with its genre with a comedic touch that rescues it from the realm of camp. Driving this cinematic vehicle is the perfectly cast Harrelson. His Tallahassee, though not dimwitted, requires a comedic timing and joyous bloodlust few actors possess inherently. It is an inspired piece of casting for a character that must traverse the waste of what was the United States slaughtering zombie after zombie with unrestrained zeal.
Harrelson’s casting actually saved the movie because his counterweight, Jesse Eisenberg is that much of a letdown. Not that he is necessarily bad, it is just sad to see that either he or director Ruben Fleischer chose to have his character, Columbus, channel the comedic persona actor Michael Cerra has mastered since his days on Arrested Development. In a film that is so well done and intelligently aware of itself, particularly for the genre, there is no need to make such an obvious ploy to capture the audience’s sympathies.
Perhaps that is just splitting hairs because really Zombieland is a riotous joy to watch. The zombie’s kill with a gore that will trigger your gag reflex, every demented funny bone in your body will be tickled in turn by the ways the zombies are slaughtered by the humans. It is a pointless excursion into the Halloween season that will not soon be forgotten. Zombieland is an instant classic for a genre usually remembered for all the wrong reasons.