Con’s Score: 3 /5 Ukuleles
The zombie movie genre has now morphed into so many variations, it might need its own awards night. Australian writer-director Abe Forsythe has now given us a zom-rom-com with a schoolbus load of kids. Ideal for all the family.
It starts off in a very adult way, with no-hoper Dave (Alexander England) leaving his girlfriend and crashing on his sister’s couch. Dave is a bit of a douche bag (and yes, there plenty of Americanisms in this). He swears around his five year-old nephew, Felix, (Diesel La Torraca) let’s him stay up playing shoot ‘em up games and wanks over Felix’s lovely teacher, Carolyn (Lupita Nyong’o). He volunteers to chaperone on a school excursion to a petting zoo which turns into a zombie apocalypse. And soon they’re trapped in the souvenir shop with an American kids TV show host (Jason Gad)… not that plots matter in these films. Zombie films are usually about the carnage and the escape.
What does matter in any film is the script and the acting, and Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) positively glisters through the blood. She’s a class above, and you wonder what is she doing here. She shows she has the comic timing and can play a mean Tay Tay on the ukulele, which she learned in a matter of weeks. England as Dave holds up his end, but he’s well overshadowed. These two give this film its heart before any zombies have the chance to rip it out. Gad (Frozen 2) is there for comic relief and some crass jokes, most of which misfire. Kat Stewart is also very grounded.
Forsythe has bounced back from Down Under with this genre piece, but it’s the casting that has carried his script. There are lots of giggles and it’s more about the characters than the gore. Nyong’o shows she can do anything with nothing much, and carries this piece. In the end, it has more charm than expected, and a lot less blood than normal.
It has now left most cinemas and can be seen on Foxtel.
Con Nats – On The Screen
