For British movie-goers in particular, Zombieland has something to prove. Five years ago, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set the bar for zom-coms frighteningly high with Shaun of the Dead. With the exception of Uwe Boll’s hilariously abysmal House of the Dead, no film has even come close to clearing it. So, Zombieland isn’t just inviting comparison, it’s pleading, begging, practically moaning for it.
So compare we do. Which is unfortunate, because despite featuring plenty of original hooks, Zombieland suffers from such point scoring. First, however, the setup. Mad cow disease has jumped ship, turning humanity into a ravenous horde of bullet-hungry meat sacks. Enter: loveable loner Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), who gets by with a shotgun and his own list of unbreakable rules. Columbus narrates rather neurotically every so often, yet director Ruben Fleischer wastes no time in introducing his foil, burly zombie hunter and Twinkie-obsessive Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson). The pair’s friendship never forms any emotional core as such, but once scheming sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) arrive on the scene, the chemistry picks up. While Zombieland may essentially be short on vital belly laughs (particularly so in the flabby third act), the jokes tickle along nicely, with recurring gags hammered out like leitmotifs, and Bill Murray’s incomprehensible cameo around the halfway mark is genuinely funny.
Planting Zombieland alongside Shaun of the Dead doesn’t do either movie any favours.
The former is more brawn than Shaun in any case – the John Woo-esque finale turns what had been How to Kill a Zombie in 10 Ways into a cheery Resident Evil adap. Wright and Pegg’s film may have featured a similar Everyman in the lead role, but it was far more about sending up the genre and paying tribute to English pub life. Despite the gore, Zombieland is completely inoffensive: no attempt at satire is made and the boundaries of comedy are left comfortably unpushed. Harrelson, playing against type, is clearly having a great time. By contrast, Eisenberg, especially after Adventureland, is in danger of digging himself into a rut as the go-to comedy virgin, or worse, Andy Samberg-lite. Hopefully, with the more than fine Zombieland under his belt, he’ll finally be able to branch out a bit.