Scaring Up Some Laughs

Friday, October 2, 2009

Wildly implausible, slightly scary and plot-lite though "Zombieland" is, it stands to add a few comic bons mots to popular parlance, including: "Nut up, or shut up" and "I gotta take the Browns to the Super Bowl" (a.k.a. visit the loo).

Directed by D.C. native Ruben Fleischer, "Zombieland" finds our hero on the run from zombies. These zombies are humans who've been infected with a virus (swine flu gone apocalyptically wrong) that makes them search for human flesh on which to feast.

Our hero (Jesse Eisenberg) meets a highway cowboy (Woody Harrelson), and the oddball pair travels on together, referring to each other by the names of their home towns: "Tallahassee" and "Columbus." The two are quite adept at killing zombies.

They run into a pair of non-zombie sisters: "Little Rock" (Abigail Breslin) and "Wichita" (Emma Stone), and set off for an amusement park that's purportedly zombie-free. Eisenberg evokes deadpan Michael Cera-ness, Bill Murray shows up for a semi-fun cameo, and Harrelson seems to be having a good time.

"Zombieland" is sometimes funny. But those of us who have teeny coronaries every time something goes bump in Zombieland might have a hard time relaxing for long enough to really enjoy ourselves.

How do they get gas for their Hummer? Where do they get ammo for their guns? Are there other people on Earth? Are they setting this up for a sequel?! If you find yourself watching "Zombieland," try to dwell on the laughs and stop asking questions. Nut up, darlings, or shut up.

-- Ruth McCann

Zombieland R, 83 minutes Contains violence, gore and language. Area theaters.