Arts and Lifestyle Wednesday Presented by The Exit Room of Lee's Summit- Giving a Zombie an Even Chance Proves Entertaining
Early this year I wrote a review of a film called “Stan and Ollie”, about the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy, and I opened the review by asking whether you could enjoy a film about a real-life duo that you really didn’t think was very funny. The answer then was a resounding yes. That question can be asked again today in the case of zombies. I can’t stand anything zombie, and I basically avoid entertainments that include them like the plague (pun intended).
But I decided that I would like to mix things up a bit for this review. I generally review smaller films and classic cinema, but decided that “Zombieland: Double Tap” would provide a chance to branch out a bit. Here is how much I effort to not zombie. I think that I may have seen the original “Zombieland”, but I am not sure. It was ten years ago, which means my younger daughter would have been twelve, and films like that were right in her wheelhouse. I think maybe i just put it out of my head. I literally have not viewed any movie or television product featuring zombies since.
So if this was the first of second zombie film I have seen, it will be my last. But the answer to the question of enjoying a film where the subject matter is off your radar screen is again….yes. “Double Tap” is funny, well-acted, and engaging. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t have to turn away from the screen about 147 times. I know that it is cartoon violence, but man it is sooooo gross. However, when heads weren’t exploding, and limbs flying about, the chemistry of the lead actors was palpable, and the film was fine movie fun.
Ten years on from the first film, the story also is set a decade later. The four familiar returnees, bad-ass but goofy redneck Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), sarcastic Wichita (Emma Stone), her now reaching adulthood little sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and nerdy and obsessive Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) have taken residence in an abandoned White House in an even grimmer post-apocalyptic world where the zombies have grown tougher to kill. But still, this foursome makes that task a routine part of their days, and the zombies perish by the hundreds.
In their humble home, Columbus and Wichita (for the uninitiated, the names come from their birth cities) are shacking up in the Lincoln Bedroom, but when Columbus tries to take the next step and proposes with the Hope Diamond, the commitment-phobic Wichita takes off with her sister in tow. Little Rock has her own motivation for fleeing, the overprotective nature of Tallahassee, who basically sees Little Rock as a surrogate daughter. This begins a scenario where very scene besides the slaughters is basically a very well-done sitcom, with snarky banter flying all over the place.
Columbus is distraught by his hoped-for fiancee’s departure and is an easy mark when he meets airheaded Valley Girl type Madison (Zoey Deutch), who seduces him with ease. Deutch is a gem in a role that could have merely been a stereotype, with well-executed consistent vapidity like asking why it’s called the Oval Office.
The plot moves into it’s real gear when Wichita returns to “get new ammunition” after Little Rock takes off with a pacifist hippie musician named Berkely (Avan Jogia). They are headed for Graceland, and the rest of the “family” is terrified at the prospect of her trying to maneuver the grotesque landscape without firepower. This is particularly galling to Tallahassee, who not only cares for Little Rock but is appalled she is with a guy carrying a guitar, not a phalanx of firearms. His rant regarding this is one of the high points of the film.
Harrelson has a heap of great moments. Everyone does their jobs well, but Woody really elevates things, weaving from his gleeful mowing down of zombies, through several hilarious Elvis impersonator moments, and some actual real tenderness. And having an absolute blast doing it.
They head off with Madison along to create romantic tension and provide another zombie subplot. Tallassee has always yearned to see Graceland, and is overwrought when they arrive to find it almost completely demolished. But spirits are quickly lifted when they almost immediately find a meticulously adorned Elvis-themed motel run by Nevada (a charming Rosario Dawson). She gives them the news that Little Rock has headed on to a pacifist commune called Babylon, leaving behind Tallahassee’s beloved vehicle The Beast, which Wichita and Little Rock had commandeered when they originally left. She also hits it off with Tallahassee, as they share their adoration of The King.
Some good laughs are provided when a roving pair of other zombie killers (Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch) crush The Beast with their monster truck and turn out to be personality imitations of Tallahassee and Columbus.
Director Ruben Fleisher and the writers, which include “Deadpool” gagmen Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, have us lightly and mostly merrily headed for a conclusion at Babylon. It’s the kind of zany giant set piece that you would expect at the end of a gory funfest.
That things pretty much work out is not exactly a spoiler, although “working out” in an apocalyptic world is relative. The film features amusing narration from Columbus, with his 74 obsessive rules often flashing on the screen at appropriate moments, along with stops to hand out “The Kill of the Week”, after Tallahassee routinely advocates himself for the award.
You could add a personal point to my grade if hordes of graphic zombie mutilation doesn’t bother you. Give the caveat that it REALLY bothers me, I was able to have a fun time at the movies. Sharp performances, snappy dialogue, and likable, quirky characters are all major assets in what is, in its own way, quality light entertainment.
