Shaun of the Dead

1. Shaun of the Dead (Director: Edgar Wright)

Possibly the funniest comedy of the year so far, Shaun of the Dead gets its laughs mainly from the fact that, as zombies slowly begin to take over, hardly anyone notices.

The film is about Shaun (Simon Pegg, who also co-scripted with Wright) and his failing life revolving around his bad job, his poor decisions that lead to the breakup of his girlfriend, and his drinking adventures with his best friend. The movie starts off playing like that's going to be the whole story, then those familiar, slow-walking, moaning creatures start popping up. At first, the laughs come from the complete obliviousness--Shaun walks through his town, and zombies or dead people are in the background. One scene has him walk from his apartment to the store and back to his apartment, and all the while he misses that nearly the whole town is affected, he misses the blood all over the place, and even doesn't notice that the storekeeper is dead.

Then, when Shaun finally realizes the horror, some laughs go into the realm of sick humor as he and his friend try to kill the zombies. Eventually, Shaun faces his failed life by way of the zombie attack, and there's even some serious moments in the film that frankly, didn't seem to belong.

Director Wright certainly infuses this with some pseudo-Raimi style and technique you rarely see in comedy these days. The writing is often times brilliant. Not a complete success, but better than most and worthwhile.