Dir: Ruben Fleischer
Being a fan of comedy I have given over a portion of my attention to what comprises a good joke. Now my detractors will immediately state that humor is subjective, and to label any one thing as particularly funny while another may be labeled as not is merely an opinion on my part. As a retort, I would remind my detractors that there are, indeed, universal gags that transcend opinion and subjectivity, and the people who don't appreciate even the most fundamental comedic gags likely didn't get the joke.
Zombieland is a brilliantly written piece based in a post-apocalyptic world where some minimally explained virus has turned nearly all of humanity into mindless flesh-craving zombies. That is all that needs to be said about the setting; zombie movies through the years have explored every possible avenue of the genesis of zombies, and for a movie deigning to leave the over-taxed subject aside it justifiably just isn't important anymore. The story instead follows the life of a young man who, resolutely introspective in the normal world, finds a reason to emerge from his self-imposed cocoon while struggling as a survivor in a harsh environment under barbaric conditions. It is a coming of age tale, truth be told. What stands out, however, is the quality of writing and story telling; how this otherwise simple tale combined with a tired horror concept is given new life.
There is a particular gag among the myriad of wonderful comedic offerings in this buffet which stood out for me while I watched. And as I now sit reflecting on it, I ask myself why it was so effective. The gag is the young type-A hero's list of survival rules, of which we are given constant examples of as the movie roles on. “Don't be a hero”, “Cardio (being in shape)”, the “Double-Tap” (which simply means ensuring a Zombie is dead by shooting it once it is down and seemingly out, just to make sure). These rules are helpfully displayed on the screen reminiscent of a narrative along the bottom of a page in a novel. Just in case you missed Rule No. 17 in action, a partially interactive text pops on the screen and helps you along. It is a running gag, and it works powerfully in the way this story was told.
This quasi-horror movie doesn't fit in the horror category anymore because of gags like this. It is a comedy, and from the very beginning we are allowed to ignore the inconsistencies, laugh along with the whole-sale, and often ingeniously performed (note the “Zombie Kill of the Week”) slaughter of countless, otherwise tragic, beings. When the gore is thickest, and the tension is high, a moment of text will highlight the screen and remind us about Rule No. 9, and that it is OK to breathe, to laugh, to cheer the carnage. The timeless Running Gag has got our back all through the movie.
It even makes an appearance at the very end, when an important rule is broken, when our hero finds the nerve to break free from his self-imposed isolation. It is symbolic of how we all realize the rules we impose on ourselves may have had meaning, a clear rational cause for existence earlier in our lives and once served to protect us. Yet our circumstances change over time. Those rules sometimes debilitate us more, now, than they protect us. Heavy message to bring to the table. But not to worry; the Running Gag is here to remind us to breathe, and to laugh, and to cheer our hero as he learns to grow.
This movie is fun to watch. It is laugh out loud funny, which is always more when shared it with a group of friends, so I suggest you watch it with friends. The jokes are often small and subtle in contrast to the gun-shots and falling pianos and mobs of flesh hungry zombies being blasted from the seat of a roller-coaster. But that makes them all the more effective. It is a movie of contrasts, being both stomach churningly gross and tear producingly endearing. The actors are given the room to make us care about them and their survival, even as we find ourselves initially comparing them to people we know and don't like. It is horrific, it is touching, it is funny, and it is thrilling. And it knows how to tell the joke so everyone can get it.
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