A romantic comedy with zombies.
Shaun of the Dead came out a while ago, 13 years came and went in what feels like an instant. This is the first of three films where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost team up to kick ass in hilarious ways. I reviewed Hot Fuzz a while back, so I guess I will be doing these out of order.
We follow Shaun (Pegg) as he struggles to maintain his relationship with Liz (played by Kate Ashfield) and maintain his friendship with Ed (Frost). The characters are immensely likable, real, and funny. Ed is often the show stealer, as his mixture of charm and stupidity cause him to exacerbate almost every situation.
The film opens with a fairly normal rom-com script. Shaun is still trying to be a bachelor and enjoy a carefree life while Liz wants them to embrace adulthood and make something of their lives. Shaun seems to desire more but also enjoys his lifestyle of partying and such.
Any efforts to reconcile their relationship are interrupted by the zombie apocalypse. Shaun and Ed first mistake the zombie-ism for drunkenness, and quickly realize that household objects make for poor ammunition against zombies.
The absurdity with which they approach every situation truly carries the film along. Their goal is to make it to their favorite pub where they believe they will be safe. The journey to the pub is some of the funniest filmmaking I have seen. Nearly every scene contains at least one laughable moment.
Unfortunately, the film loses almost all humor once they reach the pub. Sure, there are still funny moments, but the satire collapses and it more or less becomes a zombie film—and not a very good one at that. The last 45 minutes of the film drag on, predictable and not as funny. The break between genius and mediocrity makes for a highly imbalanced film. We can see the great ideas here, and their other films fix the issues that this one has. 6/10
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