Ok, I saw this movie twice. Haven’t been able to say that about a movie in a looooonnnnggg time. It’s not that Zombieland is a cinema classic, but scripters Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick, along with director Ruben Fleischer, made a funny, well-crafted if lightweight movie that succeeds both as a comedy AND as a coming of age story. Yes, you know exactly where it is going; yes, the moral of the story only needs to be  in neon lights in Times Square to be more clearly stated; and yes, it strains credibility to the breaking point in places. Do you really expect more from a zombie movie?

Fortunately,  the wit of the script and direction, plus the  talented cast make for an enjoyable road trip. No question that Woody Harrelson steals the show, essentially playing the redneck brother of his character  in No Country for Old Men.

I don’t think any reviewer, or even viewer, has failed to note Jesse Eisenberg’s resemblance  to Michael Ceera, but he is still engaging as the lead character. The survival rules he has put together, although presented for comic effect, are actually pretty sensible. Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin don’t have a lot to do once they get beyond their confidence tricks, but they certainly make the most of what they have.

The zombies in zombie land are not Romero-esque, that is, not dead people reanimated, but rather of the 28 Days Later school: running, raving, flesh-hungry maniacs owing to an infection. In this case, it’s mad cow disease in beef, but the explanation is tossed off like the trivia that it really is.  All that matters is that there only a handful of humans surviving.

Harrelson’s Tallahassee lives to kill zombies while also searching for the last Twinkies in the world. The killing is joyful sport for him, what he was norn to do. “My momma always told me I’d be good at something,” he tells Eisenebrg. There’s no sense of vengeance driving him, no hate, and he doesn’t seem to be much of a menace to other humans, no matter how he talks. He just likes killing zombies, using whatever tools come to hand.

There’s one strange sequence featuring a famous comedian playing himself that seems really out of place. It’s so obvious that this whole section of the movie is going to be incomprehensible to audiences ten or twenty years frrom now that they even reference the notion in a joke in the movie. It seems to be shoehorned in for no real purpose, as the comedian is not even listed as a producer. He’s good in the part, it just seems weird, like throwing in a bit about, say, Paul Muni, once one of the most revered actors in Hollywood, into a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.

The final sequence had a special poignancy for me. It takes place at an amusement park on California, and the park the film-makers used as a stand in is Magic Mountain, up in Valencia. I lived near there for many years, and also (blush) once did an eight times a day show in the crafts section as the Rainmaker of Spillikin Corners.

The whole sequence is ridiculous, the two young women throwing away all the intelligence they’ve displayed earlier in the film. Woody Harrelson’s last stand is fun, but falls a little short of satisfying

Zombieland doesn’t compare well with Shawn of the Dead, but it is a different kind of comedy. Simon Pegg’s mini-classic is an out and out comedy, and carries that right through to the end. Zombieland is kind of a hybrid between a regular zombie movie and an Indiana Jones adventure, though without the depth of the latter. (If you don’t hear the irony in that last sentence, I can’t help you.

With a running time of only 90 minutes, the film doesn’t have time to drag. It’s enough of a crowd-pleaser that we an surely expect a sequel in the next year or two. It’s a pleasant way to spend an afternon. Or two.

Just remember: 1. Cardio    2. Double Tap    3. Seatbelts