/Film reader Syd G sent me an early test screening review of Zombieland. Considering the extreme lack of news this morning, and the fact that I’m about to be AWOL on a flight for a couple hours, I thought I’d share. Here is an excerpt:

I had been on the fence about the movie, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see it or not. I’ve never been the biggest fan of zombie films (too much rotting flesh for my taste), but I love Woody Harrelson, and everything I had seen from it so far looked really funny. As it turns out, I was laughing too hard most of the time to really get a very good look at the zombies, anyway.

Seems very positive overall. Read the full review after the jump. I can’t wait to see the final film when it premieres later this month at Fantastic Fest.

As always, the usual disclaimers apply: The /Film reader is not a professional reviewer/movie critic, and his opinion does not reflect that of /Film. The print that was screened appears to be an early cut of the movie, and thus is not a 100% accurate representation of the final film. That said, here is the review:

Yesterday I managed to get in on a test screening of Zombieland in New York City. I had been on the fence about the movie, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see it or not. I’ve never been the biggest fan of zombie films (too much rotting flesh for my taste), but I love Woody Harrelson, and everything I had seen from it so far looked really funny. As it turns out, I was laughing too hard most of the time to really get a very good look at the zombies, anyway.

There might be some slight spoilers here, so beware.

Overall, I had a really great time. The film balances the zombie killing with humor really well, and in between laughing and cheering, it’s hard to not enjoy yourself.

Woody Harrelson’s character is really the driving force of the film. Jesse Eisenberg’s character, on the other hand, felt like little more than a narrator. His rules for living in Zombieland are amusing, but mostly when they reference Harrelson’s character. He has some funny lines, but a lot of the time, its Harrelson’s reactions that make them funny. It’s likely that I’m biased and only think this because I already liked Woody Harrelson a lot, but that’s the impression I got. The girls, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, are consistently smarter than the guys through the film and really seem to be able to take care of themselves. It was a little disappointing to see them at the end of the film, reduced to calling for help from the top of a ride. I would have liked to see them take out some zombies in epic fashion as well…

The film had some points that lagged, but its very likely that they’ll cut all that down a little before October. It also felt like the movie took far too long to get to the amusement park at the end (the part of the film everyone really wants to see), and then once they get there, it was over far too fast. Harrelson’s character gets some truly excellent zombie kills in while they are there, but it left me wanting more.

A lot of the footage was pretty raw and didn’t seem to have gone through post-production (color-timing, music cues, etc) yet. I really enjoyed the film, and will probably pay to see it again once it comes out.