Zombieland 2009

Michael Ordona, Los Angeles Times: There are even a few poignant moments in the movie, but they don't get in the way of the funny, violent, zombie-killing good time. Read more

A.O. Scott, At the Movies: This movie is fundamentally empty. Read more

Scott Von Doviak, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: It's hard not to be entertained (assuming your definition of entertainment includes exploding skulls and spattered intestines). Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Warts, entrails and all, I had a ball at Zombieland. It's 81 minutes of my kind of stupid. Read more

Mary F. Pols, MSN Movies: ...if you weren't foolish enough to have, say, a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs in advance of seeing it, you... will have a lot of fun. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: An improbably delicious comedy about a quartet of human survivors crossing an America that's been taken over by ravenous hordes. (There's even a Charlie Chaplin zombie working Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Chinese Theater.) Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The four protagonists aren't about to let something as minor as the complete breakdown of society get in the way of having a good time, and their fun proves infectious. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Zombieland skimps on nothing. That includes graphic violence, naturally. But just because you don't need a lot more brain power than the zombies employ to enjoy it doesn't mean you won't enjoy it plenty. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Zombieland makes up in laughter what it lacks in screams, and the arch weariness with which it looks out at undead America hides a frisky yet disturbing message: We're closer than we think. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Zombieland mostly finds that tricky balance of the laugh-out-loud funny and the make-you-jump scary, of deadpan laughs and intense energy. Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader: Scattershot but sharp, this postapocalyptic road comedy gives Shaun of the Dead a run for its money. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: We won't ruin it. Let's just say that if laughter distinguishes humans from zombies, then you'll know just how human you are after the quartet's visit to a mansion in Los Angeles. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's a black-blood-spitting mugging of a movie, but it's also relentlessly funny and innovative, the sort of film that makes you writhe and laugh at the same time. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Zombieland takes full advantage of both possibilities of the species as well as the current boom in zombiephilia. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: National Lampoon's Zombie Vacation -- the detours, not the plot, are the point Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Fleischer never lets Zombieland tip over into drama for too long, because the overriding mission here is to laugh in the face of the apocalypse. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Harrelson mugs wonderfully, Eisenberg stutters charmingly, Stone emerges as more than a token hottie, and Breslin plays a hardhearted tweener who, nevertheless, misses Hannah Montana. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: Woody Harrelson has a rip-roaring time in this comic splatterfest as a redneck from hell who is out to kill zombies. It's the kind of genre acting that doesn't get much notice, but it's a gleeful rampage of a performance. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The undead here could be a rabid group of Garfield toys; it really doesn't matter. What matters is the hyper-crisp, snappy visual pizazz (Fleischer should be tapped for a midlevel superhero flick), the laughs and how well it's all played. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Though both female characters are underwritten and the movie ends too soon, after a routinely action-packed final act that isn't as fresh as the rest, Zombieland is still the funniest broad comedy since The Hangover. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: A minor diversion dripping in splatter and groaning with self-amusement. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: From its inventive opening credits to a surprise cameo and accompanying laugh-riot Ghostbusters homage, the zom-com Zombieland delivers gore and gags in equally satisfying spurts, so to speak. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: By the time Zombieland reached its climax, I actually cared about who lived and died, and that reaction honestly took me by surprise. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Who would have guessed such a funny movie as Zombieland could be made around zombies? No thanks to the zombies. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Director Ruben Fleischer mixes fright and slapstick with bloody glee. And the surprise star cameo is a wowser. Enough said. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Zombieland is a romance, a comedy, a road movie and a freewheeling schlock horrorfest, all in one. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: What you're ultimately left with is a movie for people who think what they really would like to do tonight is watch zombies. Read more

Josh Levin, Slate: Zombieland, with its belching, goo-spewing undead, looks at the scenery of a video game through a fanboy's eyes. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: For rambunctious laughs, you can hardly beat Zombieland, a pedal-to-the-metal mix of ghoul gore, smartmouth humor and filmmaking savvy. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The secret in this case is the jokes, which are ferocious. Marrying a monster flick with an adolescent romance has produced a merry mutant. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: At a brisk 80 minutes, the flick isn't a minute too short. Better yet, for those with a sweet fang for confections, it's far more charming than chilling and way more funny than frightening. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: "Nut up or shut up," is the most quotable of Woody Harrelson's cowboy maxims in the genre mash-up Zombieland, and squeamish moviegoers should take it as gospel. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: This isn't just a good zombie comedy. It's a damn fine movie, period. And that's high praise, coming from a vampire guy. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Director Ruben Fleischer has his eyes trained on the comic jugular, and he attains an astronomical laugh count from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernickat's fizzing, pop-savvy script. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The movie isn't particularly scary -- not a crime when your goal is laughs. More egregious is the niggling fact that this simply isn't as witty as Shaun of the Dead, forever the yuks-meet-yucks standard. Read more

Christopher Orr, The New Republic: [E]verything Jennifer's Body was not--fast, funny, and fully aware of the obligations and opportunities inherent in the genre. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The humor is vicious and the supporting cast is viscous. But underlying the carnage in Zombieland is a sweetly beating heart. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Harrelson's unexpected line readings and reactions sometimes elevate Zombieland to a level of inspired nonsense worthy of Shaun of the Dead. Read more

Scott Foundas, Village Voice: Ho-hum zombie mayhem lurks around every bend, but the movie's comic tone becomes increasingly strained. Read more

Ruth McCann, Washington Post: Wildly implausible, slightly scary and plot-lite though Zombieland is, it stands to add a few comic bons mots to popular parlance. Read more