I caught a sneak preview of Zombieland on Wednesday night. I enjoyed it. But I also saw it for free, which goes a long way in my book. If I had to pay to go see it, I would have been a bit let down. Here's why:
9. The story toes the void between witty zombie satire and indulgent fan fiction.
8. MINOR SPOILER! (Highlight to reveal the missing words.) Even though Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray star in this wildly self-referential film, no one ever manages to mention their greatest co-achievement, Kingpin.
7. There's text integrated into the entire film (like, literally, these captions become part of the image as opposed to sitting on top). While it looks pretty good for what it is, it feels like the novelty of its perspective placement may either a) start a horribly obnoxious trend, or b) become completely unwatchable in future viewings.
6. There's an astounding frequency of product placement throughout the film, to the point where the lines between movie and commercial blur.
5. The movie features helpless female protagonists in danger... in a completely non-ironic way, mind you.
4. Product placement actually becomes central to the film's plot. Tallahassee (Woody's character) has a love for Twinkies, and this aspect becomes crucial to his character arc.
3. The filmmakers obviously wanted Michael Cera for the main role, but he either wasn't available or wasn't interested.
2. Any opportunity to say a proper noun (in this instance, a brand name) instead of a common noun is fully exploited by the writers. Hand sanitizer becomes Purell, soda becomes Mountain Dew Code Red, an SUV becomes a Cadillac Escalade, and so on.
1. While Zombieland is overall a fun movie, it's dangerously close to being consumed by its more contrived elements, and that fact makes the viewing experience slightly unsatisfactory.
More: The Top 9 Least In Demand Fan Fiction Franchises!
Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.
Wow. This list actually presents a dilemma for me (and another friend of mine also saw a free preview and said it was pretty good): if No. 8 is true, that's a lot of motivation to go see the movie, but then, all the product placements (as much as I love Mountain Dew Code Red) are a major turn off. Sounds like its doomed for DVD viewing.
you might find the product placement totally hilarious, or you might be totally turned off by it. i wouldn't have minded it as much if it felt more over the top, like they were playing the product placement for jokes. but the acting seemed very sincere about all of it, as if woody was getting a huge check for touting Twinkies and Hummers and he had to give it 100%.
I watched the movie yesterday and had a similar epiphany about Michael Cera, although the kid who got the role was fine. I don't agree with you on the product placement thing, mostly because I always call things by their brand name (if I want a Twinkie AND to avoid product naming, what do I call it?)
I have to say the most mind boggling part was that half the movie seemed quotable to me for future reference. And yes, BM was an awesome addition.
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yeah, i didn't mind the guy that played the lead. he's good... just really riding the Michael Cera style in this film.
as for the product stuff, i think when it comes to Twinkies, i would definitely call it by name. but Woody was crying about his Escalade like it was his best friend, and that just seemed silly to me. same with the whole Code Red thing. and you have to admit that it was a little heavy handed that Woody's general character arc was based on Twinkies SPOILERS! and that his resolution at the end was finally getting a Twinkie... LAME!
sorry but i really don't think you understand zombieland. like, at all. the product placement wasn't so much product placement as it was humor. spending friday nights alone with soda isn't as funny as spending them alone with code red mountain dew. its just not. and a grown man who's goal in life is to find a twinkie is pretty damn hilarious to me too. :p i do agree about the escalade thing tho. oh and the whole michael cera thing? jesse played in adventureland. then he played in zombieland. coincidence? i think not. zombieland =win. i do agree with some of your points tho. :D
i don't have a problem with product humor - i just didn't find the product humor in Zombieland was funny. for example, the Wendy's bit from Mr. Deeds is hilarious to me. but i thought Zombieland's jokes were more about the placement of the product than the actual humor of the product.
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Have you ever owned an Escapade? If you every owned one you'd understand !!
Sorry, stupid auto correct, ment to say Escalade
never owned but i have driven one and they are pretty sweet, i'll give you that.
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Hey, just learn to enjoy a movie! Who cares about that? I didn't mind the brand names, I thought it made the movie funnier. Zombieland kicked ass! lol
@Crystal: i'll try... BUT NO PROMISES!!!
I have to disagree. Sure, product placement was apparent in the film, but it's not like it was like "Torque" where there are gigantic Mountain Dew or Pepsi machines conspiciously placed in the background. The Twinkie was integral to part of the plot as was the Hostess truck. The FedEx part, also played into humor in the story. I think the Purell reference is a bit of a stretch. Who really refers to it as anti-bacterial hand sanitizer, anyway? There was obvious General Motors representation in the film, but I don't think it was over bearing. The only reference we heard was Tallahassee complaining that he wanted his "Caddy back" and that you shouldn't mess with "a Man's Cadillac." Besides, Columbus drove a crappy old Saab in the beginning of the film, not an Impala. I think that from the character's standpoint in the film, where the world is a wasteland and he found a nice truck, I would probably be upset if I got carjacked in Zombieland. As for the Hummer, "this is a really big truck" was all that was said. While the product placement is readily apparent, I think it was done tastefully and humorously. Let's face it, we've all seen much, much worse from Hollywood as far as this commercialism goes. I think to an extent, it makes the film more realistic for me. I sometimes find it annoying when film makers go out of their way to avoid having commercial branding appear in the films. Such as a family at a breakfast table with some no-name coffee can in plain view. If it just said Maxwell House, it would be more realistic for me.
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Chris, you make really good points. And I can see where you're coming from with them. But I think there's a fine line between making the script dependent upon product placement and making organic placement that adds to the story. In my opinion, Zombieland was dependent upon its product references -- the products were used to define the characters and show us who they were in life. The products became goals and dreams for the characters instead of little references.