American Zombie: The Sean Penn Story.
Actually, no. I would never insult the "living deceased" like that.
AZ pretty much fails as a comedy, but succeeds to a limited extent as a mild curiosity, though far be it for me to imply that it is hugely original by any means. Woody Allen and Christopher Guest have already done this format, and with much better results.
It's the sort of failed comedy which must have seemed funny when it was being written, i.e. appeared to be comical on paper, but when transferred to the screen fell apart. (Paper and screen, two entirely different worlds sometimes.) Try to remember that, future writers of comedy: not everything that's funny in written form actually works when filmed. As you write a screenplay, try to vividly imagine what your material would look like on the screen before rushing head-first into a project that will not shake the world of film at all.
Also, keep in mind that the zombie comedy genre has been bled to death already. So if you want to be clever about it, then make an actual effort, as opposed to just going for the obvious gags, such as a "zombie song" about freedom. In fact, when the humour isn't predictable it is "too clever", too high-brow. Grace Lee (the writer/director) tried to impress with her "intelligence" rather than induce laughter, which is the totally wrong approach to any comedy. Set your ego aside, missus, and you might succeed the next time. I would have welcomed some "low-brow" gags, just to keep things a little more unpredictable, balanced and dynamic.
Grace didn't have the guts to go for balls-out humour, possibly because she might have felt embarrassed (her former film-school pals, presumable all pretentious Bunuel fans, might have snickered, dunno). Instead, most of the movie is on one level, i.e. there is nearly only the subtle, satirical, quiet-monotone-monologue approach, not enough sight gags or action sequences to mix it up a bit - apart from the old guy demolishing a doll and the highly predictable (dramatic even!) ending in which one of the film-makers gets attacked by one of its interviewees. (Who didn't see that coming? And why the sudden drama?) I am not talking about turning this into an action comedy, because who the hell needs one more of those. AZ is too one-dimensional; for most of the first half it only has one flavour, one colour. It's like a straight horizontal line that never deviates from its style, one bit. That's what makes it somewhat dull as well as unfunny. It's mostly composed of monologues by actors who were so concerned with "mockumentary realism" that it's almost as if they forgot they had to be funny too.
One of the rare amusing bits was the Chinese factory owner who employs zombie labour. That was a nice, original touch. More of that would have helped.
Some potentially good gags were wasted. For example, the idea that "Jesus was the first zombie" could have been very funny if it had been mentioned in a dialogue between two people of differing religious views, which then could have turned into a heated debate - rather than just have a grinning guy say it in a monologue which is far less funny. Aditionally, instead of the film crew waiting for a permit for the "Live Dead" festival, it would have been funnier to have them camouflage themselves as zombies, getting inside that way. Besides, it makes no sense at all that they got permission to film there, considering that zombies eat the living there.
I am not going to nitpick on the logic of a comedy, even if it is a high-brow wannabe mockumentary, but I do have to mention the illogic of having thousands of zombies wonder through the city when they are so obviously out-of-control and dangerous. The fact that zombies had been part of society for decades would mean that they would be sufficiently explored, all the hazards associated with them already known. Still, it's a forgivable error, this is after all just a zombie comedy, even if it does try to smother us with the writer/director's "cleverness".
If Grace wanted to be so clever and original with AZ, she could have introduced the idea of old people close to death going out of their way to die violently, i.e. kill themselves or have themselves be killed, just so they could resurrect and continue "living". This whole aspect of people using the "R428" virus to their own advantage has barely been touched. I also think she missed out on an opportunity for a number of goofy sight gags, for example zombies being trained to collect and eat up fresh roadkill, since that was a job that no almost no human was eager to do. She could have had a zombie holding an animal carcass, unwilling to eat it because it "wasn't fresh enough". Silly stuff like that. I could think of dozens of funnier zombie gags than AZ offers us. Writing a zombie comedy isn't exactly rocket science - or at least isn't meant to be.
Half the fun about zombies is their klutziness and dimwittedness, so for Grace to move away from that by focusing on zombies that walk and talk normally – a major mistake. The brief scene with the "low-functioning zombies" in the factory was much more fun than most of the stuff with the normal zombies. Too normal for my taste.
I commend Grace though for taking jabs at fanatical, hypocritical, self-righteous political/social activism that has been polluting America in recent decades, but that too should have been funnier. And next time, Grace, don't put yourself in front of the camera. Stay behind it. You're neither charismatic nor an actress.
Actually, no. I would never insult the "living deceased" like that.
AZ pretty much fails as a comedy, but succeeds to a limited extent as a mild curiosity, though far be it for me to imply that it is hugely original by any means. Woody Allen and Christopher Guest have already done this format, and with much better results.
It's the sort of failed comedy which must have seemed funny when it was being written, i.e. appeared to be comical on paper, but when transferred to the screen fell apart. (Paper and screen, two entirely different worlds sometimes.) Try to remember that, future writers of comedy: not everything that's funny in written form actually works when filmed. As you write a screenplay, try to vividly imagine what your material would look like on the screen before rushing head-first into a project that will not shake the world of film at all.
Also, keep in mind that the zombie comedy genre has been bled to death already. So if you want to be clever about it, then make an actual effort, as opposed to just going for the obvious gags, such as a "zombie song" about freedom. In fact, when the humour isn't predictable it is "too clever", too high-brow. Grace Lee (the writer/director) tried to impress with her "intelligence" rather than induce laughter, which is the totally wrong approach to any comedy. Set your ego aside, missus, and you might succeed the next time. I would have welcomed some "low-brow" gags, just to keep things a little more unpredictable, balanced and dynamic.
Grace didn't have the guts to go for balls-out humour, possibly because she might have felt embarrassed (her former film-school pals, presumable all pretentious Bunuel fans, might have snickered, dunno). Instead, most of the movie is on one level, i.e. there is nearly only the subtle, satirical, quiet-monotone-monologue approach, not enough sight gags or action sequences to mix it up a bit - apart from the old guy demolishing a doll and the highly predictable (dramatic even!) ending in which one of the film-makers gets attacked by one of its interviewees. (Who didn't see that coming? And why the sudden drama?) I am not talking about turning this into an action comedy, because who the hell needs one more of those. AZ is too one-dimensional; for most of the first half it only has one flavour, one colour. It's like a straight horizontal line that never deviates from its style, one bit. That's what makes it somewhat dull as well as unfunny. It's mostly composed of monologues by actors who were so concerned with "mockumentary realism" that it's almost as if they forgot they had to be funny too.
One of the rare amusing bits was the Chinese factory owner who employs zombie labour. That was a nice, original touch. More of that would have helped.
Some potentially good gags were wasted. For example, the idea that "Jesus was the first zombie" could have been very funny if it had been mentioned in a dialogue between two people of differing religious views, which then could have turned into a heated debate - rather than just have a grinning guy say it in a monologue which is far less funny. Aditionally, instead of the film crew waiting for a permit for the "Live Dead" festival, it would have been funnier to have them camouflage themselves as zombies, getting inside that way. Besides, it makes no sense at all that they got permission to film there, considering that zombies eat the living there.
I am not going to nitpick on the logic of a comedy, even if it is a high-brow wannabe mockumentary, but I do have to mention the illogic of having thousands of zombies wonder through the city when they are so obviously out-of-control and dangerous. The fact that zombies had been part of society for decades would mean that they would be sufficiently explored, all the hazards associated with them already known. Still, it's a forgivable error, this is after all just a zombie comedy, even if it does try to smother us with the writer/director's "cleverness".
If Grace wanted to be so clever and original with AZ, she could have introduced the idea of old people close to death going out of their way to die violently, i.e. kill themselves or have themselves be killed, just so they could resurrect and continue "living". This whole aspect of people using the "R428" virus to their own advantage has barely been touched. I also think she missed out on an opportunity for a number of goofy sight gags, for example zombies being trained to collect and eat up fresh roadkill, since that was a job that no almost no human was eager to do. She could have had a zombie holding an animal carcass, unwilling to eat it because it "wasn't fresh enough". Silly stuff like that. I could think of dozens of funnier zombie gags than AZ offers us. Writing a zombie comedy isn't exactly rocket science - or at least isn't meant to be.
Half the fun about zombies is their klutziness and dimwittedness, so for Grace to move away from that by focusing on zombies that walk and talk normally – a major mistake. The brief scene with the "low-functioning zombies" in the factory was much more fun than most of the stuff with the normal zombies. Too normal for my taste.
I commend Grace though for taking jabs at fanatical, hypocritical, self-righteous political/social activism that has been polluting America in recent decades, but that too should have been funnier. And next time, Grace, don't put yourself in front of the camera. Stay behind it. You're neither charismatic nor an actress.