Mini movie review: Zombieland

My attempts to get Mr. Mouse to successfully watch a horror movie with me are failing miserably.  He "watched" Shredder but began reading a magazine halfway through; he refused to be in the same room for Ginger Snaps, Jennifer's Body and Paranormal Activity, instead grumping when the screaming got too loud.  But I really thought I'd found a match in Zombieland.  I mean, he saw Shaun of the Dead, ferchrissakes: another horror/comedy zombie-lite flick that clocks in at an efficient 81 minutes seemed just the thing.

I thought Zombieland was great fun.  Standard plot - after the inevitable zombie apocalypse (mad cow leads to mad human leads to zombies), a small band of survivors make their way across the country in search of safe haven.  There's the erstwhile narrator (Jesse Eisenberg), a still envirginated* bundle of neuroses who is searching for a normal life, a borderline insane but entirely charismatic Southern badass (Woody Harrelson) who is searching for a Twinkie, and a couple of cute, canny, grifter sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) both far older than their years.  Mike White also has an extended cameo and ends up being eaten by a zombie whilst on the crapper, which is awesome.

Also awesome is the third act - has any other moviemaker thought to have the last stand against the zombies set in an amusement park?  I thought they did a great job working the set into the various zombie kills: lots of movement, color and light, not your standard zombie fare.

* which, as we all know, practically guarantees survival in a horror flick

Oh, and Mr. Mouse?  Slept through the whole dang thing.