You can tell this is the filmmakers’ first major project after film school.

I too often confuse Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera. They’ve got the same hair, same build, same facial expressions, and they’re cast in similar roles. So it is that when the film freezes and spells out Eisenberg’s personal (postmodern ironic film-hip) tips and techniques for zombie survival, the mind travels to Scott Pilgrim. Similar conceit. Not the same kid. Whereas Pilgrim takes the conceit further than sense dictates, and thereby elevates itself beyond the conceit in much the way that the mind stops processing Tarantino’s violence as violence, Zombieland is content to lurk in the hipster fog beneath the glowing neon signs. So it’s not transcendent, and therefore the affectations do end up feeling a little gratuitous.

But oh, I’m speaking in absolute terms here. Zombieland ain’t bad. A bunch of kids wanted to make an ironic zombie movie and they got some high-profile talent involved. You’ve got Woody Harrelson. You’ve got Bill Murray. You have a script by someone who watched a little too much Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You have good cinematography and effects work. It’s a noble effort, and it’s got a good spirit to it.

You’d think the kids would know that there is no way Jesse Eisenberg’s character could afford that apartment, though. Who do they think he is, Mark Zuckerberg?