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The Quip and The Dead

If you're looking for a "zombie comedy", you're not going to do much better than 2004's "Shaun of the Dead", Edgar Wright's riotously funny parody of the walking-dead genre. So it was with some trepidation that I approached "Zombieland", another comic tromp across the same apocalyptic territory. But "Zombieland" isn't some greedy attempt to reanimate "Shaun's" corpse (or profits). No, unlike the rampant, brain-hungry beasties that infest the film's streets, "Zombieland" has a mind of its own. In fact, if you consider "Shaun of the Dead" a zombie parody, then "Zombieland" may be the first true zombie comedy.

The film's protagonist is the type of awkward, stammering ever-adolescent male made archetypal by Michael Cera. Here he's played by Jesse Eisenberg (who manages to out-Cera Mr. Cera). Mr. Eisenberg's character is not exactly the type of candidate you'd expect to survive the "zombie apocalypse". But survive he does, thanks to a running list of rules to which he adheres with OCD-enabled zeal. "Buckle up", he reminds us, since you never know when the undead will pop up in your backseat. "Don't trust bathrooms" - another helpful tip. In a wickedly funny opening sequence, several rules are ticked off (complete with playful on-screen graphics) during a zombie attack at a local gas station. And these aren't the stiff, lumbering undead made famous by George A. Romero's "...of the dead" series; these are the running, spewing, tendon-chewing variety that have haunted multiplexes since Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later".

Mr. Eisenberg's character is alone in the world. Or so he thinks. One day he happens upon a survivalist on an abandoned highway. Played by Woody Harrelson, and going by the name Tallahassee, he is exactly the kind of guy you'd expect to survive a zombie apocalypse. Tallahassee is the Quint of the movie, and Woody Harrelson is perfectly cast in the role. He has a screw loose, alright, but at least it's the right screw.

The ladies - and yes, there are female survivors - fare less well in barely-drawn roles. Emma Stone ("Superbad") and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine herself!) play a pair of con artists with a misplaced sense of independence. There's also a show-stopping cameo from a celebrity that should not be named (the joy is in the surprise).

Using what must have been a small budget to great effect, the film looks fantastic. Cities reek of post-apocalyptic grime; cars and trash line the streets of Hollywood; and blood spurts gleefully (and egregiously) from zombies and their victims.

Where "Shaun" played knowingly within the trappings of the genre, "Zombieland" is more of a broad, straight comedy. First-time feature director Ruben Fleischer replaces satire with belly laughs, and metaphor with crowd-pleasing catharsis. The script, by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, has some plot holes: if the zombie-pocalypse started two months earlier (apparently when patient zero ate a contaminated burger), how widespread is the problem? And why is the electricity still on? But you'd have to be brainless to worry about things like that. As zombie comedies go, this one is dead on.