If you were to take Zombieland at name value - ie as a zombie movie - it's one of the weirdest I've ever seen. For one thing, it's completely hopeful. Zombie films are, by their nature, almost always bleak. There may be a glimmer of hope at the end, but usually it feels like a band-aid on a gaping chest wound. Every good zombie movie has a sociopolitical layer, and Zombieland is no different, but this sociopolitical layer is about Obama, and about the end of the recession. This is a movie about making it through the bad times and seeing the other side. That's kind of cool, but I have to admit that it left me a touch disoriented at the finale, because I'm just not used to walking out of zombie films feeling... good.
The chemistry between Eisenberg and Harrelson is so good it's almost obscene. This is a tough relationship to pull off - Tallahassee immediately senses that Columbus is a bitch - but they navigate the waters well, without ever becoming too touchy feelie or even chummy. It's a real relationship that maybe wouldn't happen in the normal world, but in the chaos of Zombieland these two opposites together make perfect sense. Breslin and Stone are good, and Stone particularly has a great sort-of bad girl thing down, but they don't come close to matching the wattage of their male co-stars.
