Gimmicks. I hate gimmicks. What is a gimmick?
gim·mick
–noun
1.
an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, esp. one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.
That to me says, 'Hey look at me! Hey look what I can do! Hey, over here!' It's a tool used purely to grab someones attention. Like a three year old in the presence of a camcorder. There is not much really going on except the purpose of making people notice. I hate gimmicks.
Zombieland is a story about a young man who is attempting to survive the zombie apocalypse. Now keep in mind, this is a comedy. In this regard the film works. It's a new take on the now stale zombie film. Is it somewhat sad that all it takes is someone to say, 'Zombies are funny.' and suddenly everyone is blown away by the genius of it? Something tells me studio execs have seen scripts like this before, maybe even as good or better, and simply trashed it because to them zombies don't make money by making people laugh. Anyways, Zombieland certainly established it's unique brand of humour early. The main character lives by a set of 'rules' to survive death. These rules pop up throughout the film every time a situation occurs to which the rule applies. This is funny yet for some reason the filmmakers go away from the rules for nearly a third of the film. What gives? The rules ARE funny so why stop using them? It essentially renders them a gimmick. A tool used not to advance the story or characters but to be funny when it suits it's purpose. In addition, the film itself really has no story. It uses a cliched narration to move the characters along and reflect the inner thoughts of our main character when we can clearly tell what's going through his mind. For an idea of how narration can be used in a smart and effective manner both to provide humor and character, watch Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.
I hate gimmicks. Unfortantely, they're prevalent in today's film making industry because the entire generation of young filmmakers were raised on Quentin Tarantino movies. The problem is, you can't do it like Quentin did. Not even Quentin can anymore. They feature non-linear storylines, flashbacks, on-screen titles and various stylistic features that ultimately do nothing for the film except make people who don't know any better get excited. Man, I hate gimmicks.
