'Zombieland' worth the risk, even for someone with a weak stomach

I just made it through a preview of "Zombieland" without throwing up, but I'm glad I did -- make it through, I mean. It was funny, when I could watch.

A preview at Comic-Con in July made me realize that I would have trouble with the horror/comedy/adventure film. I've never done well with films that revel in gore, and this is one of them. Luckily for me, after opening credits that sent blood and guts splattering onto the screen, there were only two or three other unwatchable moments -- at least for those of us with queasy stomachs. And there must be a reason why rodents must appear in every film I see. It's just one teeny, tiny moment but I mean, honestly, unless it's Mickey Mouse or Ratatouille (and I had some trouble with that, too), why must there be rats in every film ever made.

Gore and guts and rats aside, the vast majority of "Zombieland" was very entertaining.

 

I'm sure someone besides Woody Harrelson could have played Tallahassee, but I can't think of him. As a zombie-killer extraordinaire, who dispatches flesheaters with unbridled joy, the rugged Harrelson is sublimely anti-intellectual. A fellow with nothing to lose who has learned the hard way to enjoy the little things in life. if only he could find just one Twinkie in this zombie-infested USA . . .

Harrelson couldn't have been more a polar opposite to Jesse Eisenberg's Columbus, an acknowledged nerd with a rule for every move. Emma Stone (below, with Eisenberg) is the con artist who melts his willing heart. All the while, zombies are drooling blood and chomping on the few survivors who haven't got Tallahassee around to protect them.

As in the film, Eisenberg seemed somewhat in awe of Harrelson even as they sat on the same panel at Comic-Con in San Diego.