Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a working-class guy, shuffling out of bed, onto the couch, and eventually out the door to his thankless job at an electronics store. He’s got two roommates – one Felix-like (Pete), one Oscar-like (Ed) – and a girlfriend (Kate Ashfield) who’s tired of Ed’s presence and fed up with always having to go to Shaun’s favorite pub on their dates. She wants good food and a romantic evening with Shaun and without the orangutan-impersonating Ed. Shaun’s also got a step-father he detests and a mom he constantly disappoints. Despite all this, he seems happy enough – even though the phrase ‘sleepwalking through life’ doesn’t even begin to adequately describe his existence.
When world events cause the undead to rise, Shaun and Ed (Nick Frost) greet the situation the same way they handle everything in life. They don’t debate the reason behind the appearance of zombies, they just deal with it, make jokes, and come up with a very, very basic plan of attack: round up the now ex-girlfriend, go by and pick up mom and the “he’s not my father” guy she’s married to, and head to the pub where they’ll down a few pints, eat some peanuts, and wait out the zombies. In actuality, their plan doesn’t go down at all like they’d played it out in their heads – the flaw being no one let the zombies in on the schedule of events.
I don't normally see movies twice but I caught a second screening of “Shaun of the Dead” just to see – and hear – what I’d missed the first time around. Unless you’re used to heavy British accents, there are moments the jokes will escape translation. But thankfully those moments come and go quickly, and the plot moves along smoothly without the need to worry you’ve missed a crucial piece of info and now the rest of the film won’t make any sense. The writing’s smart, the characters are all surprisingly fleshed out, and the starring cast - Pegg, Frost, Ashfield, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Lucy Davis, and Dylan Moran - are, well, perfect, and that’s not exaggerating. Their performances won’t be nominated for any awards, but they help make “Shaun of the Dead” into an instant cult hit.
What I love the most about “Shaun of the Dead” is how the two main characters continue to be themselves, even when facing end-of-the-world situations. They debate the merits of throwing certain records at the zombies to ward them off, agreeing it’s okay to ruin anything by Dire Straits. And their focus remains fixed on going to where they feel the safest - their favorite pub, The Winchester - even if it’s not exactly the best place to be when being attacked by the undead.
“Shaun of the Dead” doesn’t make fun of zombie movies. No, it’s definitely a very loving, intelligent addition to the zombie genre. George A. Romero’s zombie rules are enforced, characters don’t all of a sudden become rocket scientists in face of adversity, and ordinary Joes make the unlikeliest of heroes – hanging in there almost in spite of themselves.
GRADE: A
“Shaun of the Dead” was directed by Edgar Wright and is rated R for zombie violence/gore and language.
