by Jon PetreZombie movies have...let themselves go, somewhat in the last few years. With the same disturbing inability as an aging Britney Spears, or a recently installed Persian sheikh, they have been slowly but steadily gathering fat and gradually losing momentum. Sluggish, lethargic, such travesties as World War Z and the later episodes of The Walking Dead are testament enough. Now, I know that Life After Beth isn't perfect, and by no means is it a purebred Zombie horror film, but it is refreshing, and that's definitely something.
Zach (Dane DeHaan, of the latest Spiderman franchise) has just lost his girlfriend due to a freak snake
bite. The film opens in a fairly comedic way--an oddball dialogue between Zach and a shop boy talking about "black napkins"--but the tone stays quite downbeat, as you'd expect from a funeral scene. However the feel of the film is tinged throughout with humour, so it won't get you too down--the sad opening doesn't stay long, I assure you. So Zach is dealing with getting over Beth. But then she comes back. With no memory of her death Zach and her parents must work to keep her a secret from the world, who have moved on. Despite that, everything seems great between the two teens--or is it? Things begin to go wrong, and Zach is forced to ask himself--is Beth still the same person that he fell in love with?
It was genuinely funny and genuinely heartwarming. I didn't much like Dane DeHaan in Spiderman, I'm willing to admit that; but he is a talented actor nonetheless and he performed well in this piece. A great script and some great direction from Jeff Baena, who seems to have made Life After Beth as something of a pet project for himself. While by no means was the film exceptional it was still highly entertaining, with a melancholic ending but a good plot. The pacing was a little dicey, slowing down in places, but overall, not that much to complain about here.
While Dane DeHaan performed well, Aubrey Plaza stole the show. Her funny, sarcastic "And the horse you rode in on" and at times creepy attitude served us well here, as it added a certain other dimension and verisimilitude to her performance, which otherwise might've been quite simplistic, or at least less effective. She was a great choice for the role and we'll definitely be more of her in the coming months and years, I wager.
 |
| It's that...mean girls-esque quality...that ties everything together here. Aubrey, we salute you. |
My only major qualm with the film was that it wasn't much of a romance after the first act. It became much more comedic--the zombies, and the romance seemed to take something of a backseat. Which would be fine if the film were a comedy rather than the cross-genre piece that it is. There's a fine balance that needs to be maintained with hybrid pieces like this, and though Life After Beth was by no means out of sync in that way it teetered a little toward the end and came close to toppling once or twice. Fortunately the ending managed to save us from any sort of noticeably ruin, though things could've been tightened a little like that.
Life After Beth was fresh and inviting, with a premise that I've never heard of which was engaging and entertaining. Great performances from Dane DeHaan, Aubrey Plaza, and John C. Reily, and a solid script from all. Highly watchable; you'd only notice the minute cracks if you were looking for them, and it just so happens that I was.
4/5
Trailer
No comments:
Post a Comment