Deadheads (2011) - 3/4

Deadheads is another heartwarming zombie horror comedy in the vein of Shaun of the Dead and the legions of other heartwarming/hearteating zombie comedies. If you're sick of zombie comedies, as I am, Deadheads will still please you, because it is a genuinely charming and funny movie.

Mark wakes up to find himself a zombie in the middle of an outbreak. He's one of the few zombies that can actually think and talk. A smart zombie. Or smombie, if you will. (But why would you?) He teams up with another smart-zombie, Brent, a slacker doofus who just wants someone to hang with. They acquire a pet stupid-zombie, Cheese, and an old war vet with a TMI problem. Together they try to find Mark's girlfriend and help Mark perform his last planned action before death, propose marriage to her. Unfortunately, the usual anti-zombie elements are in place, like a black guy with a shotgun and dudes in hazmat suits.

The characters' personalities are established quickly and they're immediately likeable misfits. These are zombies you'd want to hang with so long as you had some Fabreeze nearby. Their misadventures consequently prove amusing. Goofy jokes that might ordinarily be groan-worthy work quite well. I particularly enjoyed Brent's constant movie references. I enjoyed spending time with these idiots and I wanted them to win.

I also found it amusing how much of Deadheads's structure is based on Star Wars. Cheese is clearly intended to be Chewbacca, down to some outright shot-references. While Brent ought to be Han Solo, the incestuous vibe had to go. So the Han Solo/Luke Skywalker roles flip between Brent and Mark. The girlfriend, Ellie, is Leia. Her dad is Darth Vader. Watch the movie and see how much the roles fit. I believe it was conscious on the part of the writer-directors, the Brothers Pierce.

Like Star Wars, Deadheads is a crowd-pleaser. It is self-consciously a crowd-pleaser. The douchebags are all really douchebags, the good guys are really good guys, and goodguyery will triumph over douchebaggery. Sometimes that's tedious and saccharine. Deadheads does it right. Cliches and spotty acting will quickly become negligible. This movie is a lot of fun and you will indeed be pleased by it. Watch it when you're depressed. It'll do you better than that whiskey in your sock drawer.