​FILMS

burying the ex

2015 review number 136:

Burying the Ex: (Comedy/Horror): 60 out of 100: Burying the Ex is a B-grade comedy/horror that has been helmed by some would say, master of B-grade comedy/horror, Joe Dante. His output has slowed in recent years but he was a prolific director in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with films such as Piranha, The Howling and Gremlins and its sequel. His latest film is definitely on the cheap side when it comes to effects, laughs and thrills, but it's a case of enjoying a little Joe Dante than having no Joe Dante at all.

 

Anton Yelchin plays Max who is in a relationship dominated by Evelyn (Ashley Greene). She controls just about everything from what he can eat to how his apartment should look like when they move in together. She even becomes jealous when she thinks he is flirting with ice cream vendor, Olivia (Alexandra Daddario). She also despises his sex-crazed half brother Travis (Oliver Cooper). Max is becoming increasingly unhappy with his relationship with Evelyn and arranges to meet up with her to break it off. Before he gets the chance to tell her how he feels, she is run over by a bus. Initially distraught over her death because she wouldn't have left her office during the day if he hadn't called her, he learns to live and love again with Olivia. Things become complicated when Evelyn returns from the dead as a zombie and vows to stay with her man due to a pact they made together that they would love each other forever.

 

The fun only begins when Evelyn comes back as a zombie. Before this, the story is rather laboured with setting up the characters and their predicaments. There could have been more amusing moments extracted from the situation involving Evelyn's rise from the dead but the jokes wear a bit thin after a while. The funny scenes bring more of a smile than a hearty laugh, and of course there's the occasional groan over some of the juvenile humour, especially involving Travis.

 

There are a few occasions when you ask yourself why the characters behave the way they do but this movie isn't meant to be rocket science. Ask yourself too many questions about a zombie movie and you shouldn't be seeing this type of movie at all! Nevertheless, there are enough opportunities to kill off the zombie but if that happened too soon, we wouldn't have much of a movie, would we?

 

Burying the Ex won't be receiving any accolades for its acting. Greene's performance is over-the-top at times while Cooper occasionally overdoes the horny aspects of his character. At least there is chemistry between Yelchin and Daddario, and you do hope that they end up together. There are other characters but with so much time devoted to the principal characters, the minor characters are not even worth remembering.

 

This is a pleasant enough diversion that won't make you dead tired and feel like a zombie. It is not something you need to see on the big screen though. It might gain more of an audience on DVD and become a cult classic.

 

Starring Anton Yelchin, Ashley Greene, Alexandra Daddario and Oliver Cooper

(89 minutes)

Parental advice: Coarse language, violence, sexual references and nudity

Additional scene during or after credits: No

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3vuRYFCwjo (Movie trailer)

(Reviewed on Monday 21st September, 2015)

 

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