Zombieland

2009 ****

Hi! Just jumping into Horrorthon for a moment. I've been absent largely due to my job, which is somewhat horrifying in and of itself. (Think main sewer line breaks in the middle of the night. So...maybe not horrifying as much as incredibly yucky and annoying.)

I said I might have some themes this year, but I've decided my new theme is going to be semi-pretentious name dropping, meaning I'll just review movies that involve people I've met here in Hollywood, but not in any truly impressive context. So, to begin with, I sat next to Rhett Reese on a plane. We were on the way to Austin Film Festival. I went because a script I wrote kinda sorta placed a competition, but not really. And he went because he wrote Zombieland so he is awesome. Semi-pretentious name dropping accomplished.

To give some insight into this flick, Rhett told me he and his writing partner originally wrote it as a pilot, and then it didn't get made, and they ended up getting paid to expand it into a feature, which did get made. I thought it was pretty great--clever characters, funny scenes, actually sorta moving at times, sharp dialogue, nice character development, and mostly very silly so you could forgive its super obvious internal story arcs. Guy's a loner--um, I'm gonna guess by the end of the film he'll learn to connect with people. But you know, when it's done right, it still works.

So I was totally on board, but I have to admit, after reading JSP's review, I thought, "Yeah....that Bill Murray thing was kind of a sideline. Huh." That was a little peek inside my head. That's the kind of thrilling analysis that goes on in there.

So maybe that little Bill Murray's mansion adventure was added as padding while the writers were trying to fill out 100 pages instead of 60. It works for me, though. Probably because I also really, really love Bill Murray, and I would actually be thrilled to meet him, pre or post Zombie apolocalypse.

Just to make the rest of this review about responding to JSP, I'll tackle his point about the ladies in the film making suddenly stupid, out of character choices. I would argue that they are contradictory from the git go. Even when they all first start driving in the hummer, Witchita softens a bit when Columbus learns his whole family has been killed. And she says the reason she's going to Pacific Playland is so her sister can be a kid again, so sure, it's really idiotic to turn all the lights on, but sometimes in the post apocoloyptic world you just have to let it all hang out and have fun. The girls are drawn as jaded and talented con artists, but it didn't seem too out of bounds that they're more vulnerable sides would cause them to slip up, especially after Witchita almost totally lets down her guard in the BM palace with Columbus.

I think the Zombie thing was mostly just a backdrop for the story between the characters, so if you're going to insist on certain classic zombie elements, I guess you could find yourself disappointed. But why torture yourself?

Clever ending line interrupted by child climbing onto keyboard;lkjjgfsgj'j,hggzzzzzzzzzz