SummaryZach (Dane DeHaan) is devastated after his girlfriend, Beth (Aubrey Plaza), unexpectedly dies. When she suddenly rises from the dead, he sees it as a second chance and decides to do and say every thing he wishes he had while she was still alive.
SummaryZach (Dane DeHaan) is devastated after his girlfriend, Beth (Aubrey Plaza), unexpectedly dies. When she suddenly rises from the dead, he sees it as a second chance and decides to do and say every thing he wishes he had while she was still alive.
Blending smart fantasy elements, broad comedy, tender romance and an atypically slow-burning apocalypse, the directorial debut of “I Heart Huckabees” co-writer Jeff Baena is charming, thoughtful and laugh-out-loud funny.
If you wanted to, you could see this movie as an allegory about people who love each other but can never connect. Or maybe it’s a warning to parents who turn a blind eye to children’s failings until the family self-destructs.
It's not quite as crazy as it needs to be: There's something listless about Life After Beth — it starts out as a reflection on the potentially morbid nature of grief and then doesn't seem to know where to go.
The misused cast is just one of many examples of the unrealized potential of Life After Beth, a film that has good bones, but not enough meat, guts, or—most damningly for a zombie movie—brains.
This dark comedy has a lot of promise for about half its length. Then, unfortunately, it settles into the mundane genre picture that it seems doomed to be.
Life After Beth is not your typical romance movie nor it is your typical zombie movie, because in this film there is no build up to the relationship, nor there is a reason for the resurrection. It is caught up between both ideas and executed into this Gothic dark comedy that works and is actually really funny despite some of its flaws.
Back to normal is sometimes not good.
The movie did not reach my expectation, but still I enjoyed watching it. A story like this I never thought would do fairly, a better movie from the average section. I think not without the Aubrey Plaza, she as a Beth was excellent. Not a career defining performance, but funny enough. The story looks only faintly different from other similar films, but a few good scenes saved it. If it had a couple more good jokes and maybe a twist, surely would have been done greatly at the box office.
There's no surprise material in it, I thinks that's negative about it. Easy to read the situation and predict the story within the first 15 minutes, but the second half was drastically changed its pace as well as the atmosphere in the story. If you've not seen many zombie films, especially comedy ones, then you may find it better than average.
Definitely a decent direction for a first timer, got a good support from the cast. For a small budget, this is a wonderful production quality. It surely upset you if you expect like 'Warm Bodies' or 'Shaun of the Dead', but if you know all about it before giving a try, the disappointment will be lessened and you may have a decent time pass with it.
6/10
Aubrey Plaza is hilarious in this movie, as always. Dane DeHaan can never disappoint me either. I especially loved the Parks and Recreation references.
Aubrey Plaza and John C. Reilly feel quite natural here. Unfortunately the script rarely does, and the quirky premise deserves better than its lacklustre visual component.
5/10 [C-]