Double Tap is
set some time after the original movie. Abigail Breslin's aging makes it hard
to pretend that it's been much less than a decade, but it certainly doesn't
feel like an entire decade has passed in that world otherwise. The crew from
the original movie has settled into living at the White House. Tallahassee
(Woody Harrelson) still reluctantly accepts that he has a family unit. Columbus
(Jesse Eisenberg) embraces their comfortable lifestyle. Wichita (Emma Stone)
bristles against it. Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) is desperate to meet some
other people. The story gets set into motion when Wichita and Little Rock bail
in the middle of the night. Columbus and Tallahassee pick up a dim-witted woman
named Madison (Zoey Deutch) before Wichita returns without Little Rock, and the
rest of the movie is an extended road trip to reunite with her. Along the way,
they run into several fun characters played by Rosario Dawnson, Luke Wilson,
Thomas Middleditch, and others.
But really, it's all an excuse for some over the top
zombie kills, funny sight gags, new rules, and apocalyptic corpses of famous
locations. In that respect, the movie is a success. It's a lot of fan service.
The better you remember the first movie, the better for getting jokes and
callbacks. It doesn't take itself seriously often and that works for it. The
assumption is that people are there for some comic violence and funny lines.
I'll admit, I had trouble turning off my brain in
some needed ways. There are a lot of characters who just plain don't act like
survivors of a zombie apocalypse. For example, it's hard for me to believe that
people who have survived this for years would think it's a good idea to shoot
off fireworks. Deutch's character has absolutely no survival skills. Like, even
without a zombie apocalypse, I'm surprised she lasted this long. As efficient
as the lead group is supposed to be at zombie killing, they have way too many
close calls. More than my issue with the zombie logistics is that the four
leads presumably haven't grown at all between movies. They are all in virtually
the same place as characters, which just made me feel back for them. The
trailers like to point out how the cast is made up of three Oscar nominees and
an Oscar winner. It's a shame the movie couldn't arc out their characters more.
The new characters were mostly duds for me. Rosario
Dawson is the only one I wholly liked. That's no surprise. Rosario Dawnson
always great and should be starring in movies like this, not given thankless
supporting roles. I'm a big fan of Zoey Deutch. I'm not a fan of her character
in this. The movie has nothing but contempt for her. Deutch works really hard
to make the character funny. My dislike of her got in the way of too many of
the punchlines though. Wilson and Middleditch mostly exist for a gag. They are
fine for their few minutes, but their whole sequence felt like filler.
At the end of the day, you either like a comedy or
you don't. The jokes hit or miss. The cast gels or it grates. I can try to
break it down as much as I can, and it still comes down to how you happen to
feel about it. For some reason, Zombieland: Double Tap didn't work for
me. I didn't hate it. It just didn't do anything new. The whole movie was a
retread on the original idea rather than
a collection of new clever ideas - the kind that made the first one enjoyable.
I suspect that this is going to be one of those movies that people who liked it
will say I'm humorless for not liking or that I'm determined to suck the fun
out of it. That's fair. I disagree, but I get it. Regardless, Zombieland:
Double Tap just didn't work for me often enough.
Verdict: Weakly Don't
Recommend
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