Film review: ZOMBIELAND

ZOMBIELAND is, to call a cat a cat, one of the most overrated films of this year. The premise is pretty simple: mad cow disease has turned the whole world into zombies, and a young kid, known as Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), is running around trying to survive and make his way back from Texas to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. On his way, he meets a big, scary-ass zombie killer, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), as well as a hot chick, Wichita (Emma Stone) and her grown-up-too-fast little sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), whose goal it is to make it to Pacific Playland in California, meant to be the last zombie-free bastion in America. What follows is a road trip full of colorful zombie killing and the occasional one-liner.

The problem is, that's all that follows. This is one of those cases of "if you've seen the trailer, you've seen the film", with the exception of one brilliant surprise cameo that helps the film take a fun left turn for 10 minutes. There's no plot other than the above, there's no depth, there's no subtext, there's not much inventivity, and after the first 20 minutes you've seen all the creative zombie killings you're going to see. It doesn't help that the comedy of zombies genre already has a few greats in the canon, foremost of them SHAUN OF THE DEAD, an avowed inspiration here.

Jesse Eisenberg is all right at doing Michael Cera light, even though his voice-over is one of the most irritating shortcuts on an already short trip you'll hear all year, and Woody Harrelson is great as Tallahassee, a Looney Tune character that fits him like a glove. Past the original surprise, Abigail Breslin just blends into the background, and poor Emma Stone, despite looking fantastically hot and having a captivating voice (seriously - listen to it) isn't all that much in the acting department and doesn't really manage to make Eisenberg's infatuation with her feel like it should be love rather than just horniness. Amber Heard pops up in a great gross-out short appearance early on, and oozes sexiness in ways Stone doesn't quite.

It's 90 minutes that will literally feel like 300, and let you feel talked down to and shallow when you leave. So enjoy those few zombie kills when they happen.

**