Zombieland takes place in the post apocalyptic playground of what used to be called the United States of America. The story is based around the wanderings of a college student known through the film as Columbus (actor Jesse Eisenberg). He seems like an unlikely survivor but his strict adherence to a list of rules keeps him alive long enough to run into the wild west style, Twinkie loving, zombie killer extraordinaire known as Tallahassee, played by the always funny Woody Harrelson. The two team up and are soon joined, in a rather hilarious fashion, by two cunning sisters known as Wichita played by the stunningly gorgeous Emma Stone, and Little Rock played by the adorable Abigail Breslin. The four embark on a perilous, nonsensical journey to a far off amusement park where the climax of the movie takes place.

Zombieland was hysterical, I laughed all the way through. But it’s not just a simple comedy; there is a little something for everyone. There is plenty of gratuitous violence as they bash zombies, which is a big part of the fun, but there is also a lot of witty banter between the characters. Not all the zombie attacks are light-hearted romps with the undead but instead are fairly terrifying. There is a bit of a love story intertwined as Columbus finds himself the luckiest person on the planet as he has no competition for the attention of the beautiful Wichita. Still, it is a struggle for her heart as the members of the group deal with loss and the fear that the people they become close to could become a walking corpse the next day. This adds a little bit of drama to the story, especially when it comes to Tallahassee’s heart wrenching tale. But even these sad, dramatic points are quickly punched up with humor. This is by no means a tear-jerker.

The film has some really positive messages about what it means to survive. If you’re alone you might as well be a zombie. The way the story is told in the first person narrative of Columbus is really quite cool. You get real insight into his character and get to know the other characters as he does. It makes it easy to put yourself in his and the groups shoes and enter the world of the film. Unlike a lot of these kinds of movies where the humans’ survival is really of no concern to me as long as a zombie’s head gets blown apart, I found myself really rooting for these people to somehow “make it” through. Because of this there are a lot of “edge of your seat moments” where their survival is not only uncertain but you want them to live, not just laugh when they die.

A word of caution for you zombie fans that adhere to the strict code of zombie conduct created by Max Brooks in his book “The Zombie Survival Guide”: this is a comedy and so some liberties have been taken. There are fewer zombies than you’d think there would be in highly populated areas. The characters seem wasteful with their weapons, especially Tallahassee, and not everything is as ruined as it should be. There is still electricity. The zombies can run quickly, but the people can still out run them. One thing hardcore apocalypse horror style zombie fans will appreciate is the slow motion camera. They slow down the most gruesome of deaths, which makes them all the more hilarious. Not to mention a surprise cameo appearance by a certain comedy legend that really adds a surrealistic element to the tale.

All in all it was a great movie and I highly recommend seeing it whether you’re in the mood for a comedy, a love story, a tragedy or even a good scaring, this is the film to see!