‘Life After Beth’ is my “take notice of Aubrey Plaza” film and the beginning of my celeb infatuation. I’ve always liked her in ‘Parks and Recreation’ and now I’m completely won over. The young lady conveys like a champ and is gorgeous to boot (in fact, there is shot of her at a beach house that was crazy stunning). Though most of the time she’s still depending on her stock-in-trade (her exasperated manner and those limpid, rolling eyes), some of her characters traits are outside that comfort zone, and she has nails them effortlessly. I look forward to her getting a more nuanced role in a film with even better direction. Did I mention she was gorgeous?
John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon were perfectly cast, although the lead kid reminded me a little of a little Hugo Weaving, or Leonardo DiCaprio with consumption. Besides being a fresh take on the girlfriend-that-refuses-to-die sub-genre of zombie films, full of weird heart and Monty Python-esque moments of broad humor, with some interesting points made about relationships, grief, and old guys smoking herb, the plot is delightfully unconcerned with the “why” of post-mortem reanimation.
Another high point is the soundtrack, which was well-integrated, with a volume that varied instead of blared, and featured a couple of classic tracks by Can and Eno. The conceit that the only thing that could soothe the savage breast of Zombie Beth was smooth jazz, and that that music is “zombie music,” was always funny, no matter how many times it was trotted out.
[originally published 9-07-14]
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