Zombieland

I just saw the new film "Zombieland" today.  First, I have to give huge props to my wife, who gave up a rare movie theater excursion for the two of us so that I could see the movie I wanted to see.
I loves you baby.
Second, I have to say that up until a few hours ago, Shaun of The Dead was pretty much my favorite zombie move... ever.  And I enjoy a good zombie movie.  My second favorite is "Revenge of the Living Dead".  I actually saw that with my wife, too.  Only in 1985 she was my girlfriend.  And the movie scared her so bad that I was able to act like a zombie later that night and send her running down the dark street in front of her house away from me when I growled "braaaaaaaainsssss."
There is this great graveyard scene in the movie with a 45 Grave song, "Partytime" that just lit it up for me back then.  Don't judge me, if you know the movie.  Just don't.
I knew that Zombieland was going to be special, though, the moment the opening credits began to roll.  There is nothing like slow motion scenes of zombies chasing people to the tune of Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" blasting in the background.  Nothing.

Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland, The Squid & The Whale), Emma Stone (Superbad, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine).  The premise of the movie is not that complicated and not that original: rabid virus infects population and turns America into Zombieland over a very short period of time.  The infected have an insatiable desire for non-zombie, human flesh.

Each of the "live" characters is known only by a city in what used to be America.  Eisenberg's neurotic Columbus is on his way from Austin, TX to his parents home in Columbus, OH.  Harrleson's, crazy Twinkie-loving, gun-toting Tallahassee is trying to make his way back to Florida.  Stone's Witchita and Breslin's Little Rock are manipulative, grifting sisters on their way to an amusement park just outside of L.A. which they believe is a "safe" zone.  Like any good buddy film they find each other and become a family of sorts--bonded together, of course,  by killing and/or avoiding zombies. 

I loved the imaginative way that Eisenberg's "Rules" for survival in Zombieland are incorporated into the film--rules that include:  "Cardio," the "Double Tap" & "Check the back seat."  I also loved the cameo by Bill Murray, which has to be one of the best cameos of all time in a zombie movie---or any movie for that matter.

The movie has heart, which is saying something for a zombie-flick.  But it doesn't take itself too seriously like the recent remake of Dawn of the Dead.  There are moments when I would find my smile fading and my sentiment being tugged at pretty hard, but seconds later I would be laughing out loud---really loud, much to my wife's chagrin (when Harrelson wipes his tears with Monopoly money, for example).

Great movie.  Check it out.