Zombieland

I'm a fan of zombie films, and zombie comedies are even better!  (Okay, I liked "Shaun of the Dead".  That's the only one I can think of at the moment.)

This very tongue-in-cheek riff on the well-worn tropes of zombies is one of the least socially resonant I can remember seeing.  Yes, once again, zombies illustrate a social force in our society.  But this time around, they're a stand-in for our technology-based alienation from each other.  And it takes the the destruction of our civilization for our heroes to realize they really do need each other.  (Yawn.)

The jokes, on the other hand, are pretty good.  Jesse Eisenberg ("Adventureland") is our narrator, giving us his backstory along with several Max-Brooks-ish rules for surviving in the post-apocalyptic Zombieland, such as "Check the back seat" and "Don't be a hero".  His mentor in zombie killing is a suprisingly likeable Woody Harrelson.  (I say "surprisingly", because I haven't liked the guy in anything since Cheers.)  Joining these two are a pair of sisters played by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.

There are a few too many reversals which seem to have irretrievably broken our little foursome up... but since you're a movie viewer, you know they won't be broken up for long.  An extended celebrity cameo is a great deal of fun.  And the finale surprised me a little.

All in all, it was enjoyable, but nothing very earth-shatteringly original.