Unexpectedly Hilarious: “Zombieland: Double Tap” Review

I cannot understate my apprehension regarding 2019s “Zombieland: Double Tap” directed by Ruben Fleischer. It was a movie that seemingly came out of nowhere and from the few trailers that were actually released, it did not look all that great. 

The first “Zombieland” came out in 2009 and did not allude to a sequel which led me to believe that this movie could be just a cheap cash grab that would soil the original’s iconic name. I have to say though, this movie surprised me. It was extremely witty, capitalizing on the comedy style of the first “Zombieland” while not being afraid to branch out and even make fun of some of the outdated sayings and mannerisms that made the first movie so unforgettable. 

I think that what makes this movie really good was that it actually felt fresh. So many comedies, especially sequels, feel like a rehashing of something that already exists. This movie, however, does something unexpected, it doesn’t just completely rely on the success of the first one.  

Double Tap goes as far as making fun of the jokes made in the first movie, it even introduces new characters that specifically parody the stereotypes that made the audience fall in love with our main protagonists. The new characters also surprisingly work into the dynamic of the main cast extremely well. Even Madison, who the trailers made out to be very obnoxious, was super funny and complemented the main group better than I could have imagined. 

Speaking of our zombie hardened posse of survivors, they still work just as well as before and more than that, they actually grow throughout the sequel. During the first scenes of the movie when the group was taking shelter in the white house, my heart sank. It seemed to me that Witchita was suffering from a loss of development. 

Columbus goes on to propose to her and she reacts by stealing the car and driving away. I thought that for sure that she was falling back into the same problems she had overcome in the first movie; too often do the characters in comedies seem to forget all the lessons they learned in the first installment in order to repeat the same laughs in the sequel. Once again though, this movie surprised me by showing viewers they did not forget the lessons of the first movie, actually making fun of her backtracking and using it as a way to grow her character further. 

The question that burns in every consumer’s mind when they seek out a comedy movie has to be, is the movie funny? I can assure you that this movie definitely meets that standard. It is the first movie that made me literally fall out of my seat laughing in a theatre. While that outburst might have been exclusive to me because of the movie accidentally hitting on an inside joke between my friends and I, there were so many great moments that would have any crowd roaring with laughter. 

“Zombieland: Double Tap” is clever, it is fresh, and most importantly it is funny. While the plot of this movie is nothing special it is definitely serviceable and provides an appropriate amount of situations to challenge our protagonists. I cannot say that this movie is the most revolutionary comedy of all time, but it will definitely make you laugh and it is definitely worth the watch.