The finale of Zombieland fittingly takes place in a theme park, which I can only imagine is the writers and director acknowledging the no-thought-required good-time nature of the proceedings. It may never be very deep – no one is confusing this film with one of George A. Romero’s social commentary zombie flicks – but it’s still a helluva lot of fun regardless. Our reluctant hero and geek survivor, known as Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), has developed a rule set for how to endure in an America overrun with the living dead. When in doubt, he heeds his regulations, such as “Beware of Bathrooms” and the “Double Tap” (never leave any doubt about a kill). On his way west, he hops a ride with Woody Harrelson’s badass zombie killer Tallahassee (in a sly concept, everyone in this movie is referred to by the city they’re headed to so as to avoid making too many human connections). Eventually their little twosome will encounter a couple of sisters, Wichita and Little Rock, and they’ll form an at times double-crossing, makeshift family dynamic that results in a cross country road trip to Pacific Playland as an expedition for Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) to get one last look at the adolescence she’s missed out on. There are a number of flaws and not a whole lot of what can be called “plot” but this film, one which boasts numerous slow motion kill shots of zombies to open and even a “Zombie Kill of the Week” moment, has nothing but entertainment on its mind. And it delivers, giving Woody Harrelson a cowboy hat, a gun and a ceaseless desire for Twinkies, a hilarious cameo appearance and throwing Jesse Eisenberg into another one of his virginal fawning over the tough, indie girl roles (see: Adventureland). Maybe it could have benefitted from an extra 15 minutes of storytelling – its 82 minute runtime is pretty sparse – but still, it’s a blast… and usually one straight to a zombies head.
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