![]() ![]() Rather than just playing a typical airhead, Deutch uses her adept comic timing and characterization to make Madison her own. Deutch has shined again and again in films like Vampire Academy, Everybody Wants Some!!, and Set It Up, and she steals every scene she’s in with Double Tap. The strongest new element by far is Madison with Deutch once again showing why she’s a star. None of these ideas build to anything, but they’re fun enough when taken piecemeal. Wouldn’t it be fun if Columbus hooked up with the polar opposite of Wichita? Tallahassee was all about Twinkies in the first movie, so what if now he’s really excited to go to Graceland because he loves Elvis? Maybe there should be a scene where Columbus and Tallahassee meet their doppelgangers. Double Tap doesn’t have that arc and instead feels like a smattering of fun ideas that were cobbled into a script. The arc of the first Zombieland is that you have these four misfits who don’t really trust anyone, and they learn to become a family. Wernick & Reese still know how to tell good jokes, Fleischer shows more flash than he has in any film since the first Zombieland, and the cast continues to gel even if it’s clear they don’t really know what to do with Little Rock so she’s little more than a plot device. No one really swung for the fences here because everyone’s in their comfort zone, and oddly enough, it works. With the exception of Little Rock now being in her early 20s rather than a tween, Double Tap is a movie that could have easily been made a couple years after the original, both in terms of character development and its comic sensibilities. When we check back in with these characters, it doesn’t feel like they have ten years of history under their belts. The group heads out on a new road trip to reunite with Little Rock as evolved, harder-to-kill zombies continue stalk the wasteland.ĭouble Tap has the feel of a movie where everyone got back together because they had a good time making the first movie and the studio wanted a sequel rather than having a story that needed to be told. Wichita comes back to the White House for some help only to find that Columbus is now shacking up with the ditzy Madison ( Zoey Deutch), who he and Tallahassee found surviving at the mall. The sisters decide to leave, but after picking up a pacifist hippie, Berkeley ( Avan Jogia), Little Rock and the hippie take the car and head off to parts unknown. Little Rock wants to find friends her own age and bristles under Tallahasse’s parentage even though he means well. Columbus wants to marry Wichita, but she’s not sure she wants to make that commitment. Picking up about ten years after the original, Columbus (Eisenberg), Wichita (Stone), Tallahassee ( Woody Harrelson), and Little Rock ( Abigail Breslin) are still together and have set up shop in the White House, but tensions are starting to build. Rather than trying to reinvent what made the first movie work or offer a bold new approach, Double Tap is a collection of goofy gags and charming new characters that make the sequel a nice companion to the original. Instead, the original creative team and cast of actors have reunited for another fun mishmash that’s surprisingly delightful even if it never feels necessary. All of this is to say that Zombieland: Double Tap is not coming back to sacred ground like Zoolander 2 or Anchorman 2. You probably can’t quote a single line from Zombieland, but we all had a good laugh at the Bill Murray cameo. Far from it, the movie holds up surprisingly well as a blend of sweet and cute tone mixed with R-rated comedy. That’s not to say that Zombieland is a bad movie. It was a sleeper hit in 2009, it helped further boost the careers of rising stars Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone, and was a breakthrough for writers Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick as well as director Ruben Fleischer. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |