Burying the Ex

Not exactly of course, although this does feel like its aimed at a specific audience. Some might feel it's a bit too soft for them and that it feeds too many clichés throughout, but that would take all the fun out of it, if you'd reduce it to that. I understand that that's how some will feel (or felt) after watching this.

You missed out on a fun ride though. Yes you know where this is going, from start to finish, but it's fun to watch. Anton Yelcin seems to have a soft spot for the fantastic/light horror entertainment, which is a nice thing. Dante is an experienced director to say the least and he knows how to mix humor with some violence. It might not always work, but when it does (combined with the acting) it's funny

"Burying the Ex" is the soon to be released flick from director Joe Dante, who brought us the '80s classics "Gremlins" and "The Howling." This time around, we follow horror-movie-loving Max (Anton Yelchin, ie. Checkov from the "Star Trek" reboot series, but without the Russian accent), struggling to rise above the manipulative people in his life. He's working in a dead-end job in a kitschy Halloween curio shop with a demanding boss; living with his controlling girlfriend Evelyn (Ashley Greene from "Twilight"); and dealing with his brother (I mean half-brother, a running gag) Travis (Oliver Cooper from "The Hangover III") who really just needs Max's apartment as a destination to take his booty-calls to.

An odd little statue arrives at the shop that promises to grant a wish… but because it's a "Satan-Genie" (and according to a tag attached)– it has to be granted the "evil way." Cut to the "Satan-Genie" being within earshot of a post-coital promise made between Max and Evelyn: "We will always be together… always and forever"… and the "evil-way" is set in motion.

Max's relationship with Evelyn continues to deteriorate. Evelyn freaks out at a friendly ice cream shop owner named Olivia (played by the comely Alexandra Daddario from True Detective); turns their apartment into a "green, eco-friendly zone" … and relegates (read: jams) his expensive horror movie posters into a drawer… At his wits end, Max takes the advise of brother (half-brother) Travis, and invites her to a public place to break up with her. Max chooses a dog park, which leads Evelyn to believe he has gotten her a dog, and in her enthusiasm, rushes out to meet him and is killed by a bus.

You can guess what follows. Evelyn returns from the grave, hell-bent on rekindling their relationship, and determined to keep Max away from the very-alive ice cream owner, Olivia. And she has a plan to make good on their promise to "always be together… always and forever" that Max is not too keen on.

There are some genuinely funny moments, and director Joe Dante is in great form, but comparisons to the Jeff Baena film "Life After Beth", released last year, are inevitable. Both movies involve girlfriends coming back from the grave to despondent boyfriends who have all kinds of regrets after their deaths; both girlfriends are adamant in reviving their "dead" relationships (and deflecting any interest from any potential "living" girlfriends), all the while slowly deteriorating physically and mentally into zombie-ness (and rage). And according to both films, returning from the grave makes girls super-strong and really horny.

Those are the plot similarities. Burying the Ex is a really fun movie with great directing, photography, physical special effects and outstanding acting that illustrates Dante's pedigree, delivering a far more polished film than Life After Beth. Don't let seeing Beth dissuade you from checking out Burying the Ex. It's a fun watch for those wanting to expand their zombie movie horizons.

Burying the Ex sounds like a fun concept, putting the cynicism of relationships with some horror movie camp. It's quirky overall, with the combination of the monster movie tropes of its star, Anton Yelchin, and the flavor of Joe Dante's vision, this must be a perfect formula of an enjoyable zombie comedy. But surprisingly, the movie is lacking the enthusiasm it deserves. It seems like the film's only priority is just sticking to formula of a typical R rated comedy, and ends with a horror movie schlock. When it shows affections to the horror side, Burying the Ex becomes fun. But it would take a long while for the film to get there.

The film introduces itself with its main character seemingly living in misery with his girlfriend. His girlfriend apparently wants him to give up himself from being a horror movie junky, thus he struggles with her choice of choosing a lifestyle that he isn't really fond of. Then we get to meet another girl who has a better fitting personality for Max. This is meant to be something playful or somewhat, but the film's approach seems to lack real energy to make them totally entertaining. A raunchy best friend (or half brother) also exists in this story to provide a straight comic relief, but not even him could spice up these moments. When Evelyn turns into a zombie, it seems like the film doesn't earn much of a surprise. It still sticks to the quirkiness, but it's just another way to anticipate for the real payoff as we watch more of them trying hate each other, at the same time concerning the other girl and his supposedly funny half-brother.

It's only the third act where the film finds real joy from itself, even though it only lasts for a few minutes and looks pretty trashy, but this is what most of the film should have been, embracing its horror movie roots than forcing some romcom silliness. It's quite a shame because the film is scattered with potential comedy gold as well. There is a running joke about the catchphrase of Max's work that lead his costumers with amusingly bitter reactions. The film could have used more of that type of humor. The acting is surprisingly not so interesting. Anton Yelchin seems to build his own cliché as a hero who fights monsters with a hot girlfriend, but this is probably his least likable among. His Charlie Brewster had sense of adventure and humanity, while Odd Thomas had all the curiosity a monster movie needs. Here, he's basically struggling to get back to that mold, though he still spares the charisma only when the script calls him for it. Ashley Greene is trying to be freaky and cute as both human or zombie, but it never shines either way. Alexandra Daddario makes herself bubbly, maybe a little too much.

Burying the Ex should be fun. It's a simple quirky idea and yet it sticks in throwing some lazy clichés and unenthusiastic tone. Only the last few minutes where the real conflict kicks in and reveals the film's supposed true madness. If only the film focused more on that, or at least give more humor like the one that tells people to go to hell than another sex joke about half-brother having an orgy on the hero's apartment. It just wasted a cool concept for a dark comedy that could potentially bring its own personality, it's also scattered with a good taste of classic horror love, but what took over instead are the familiar and less inspired ones.

Wuss (Anton Yelchin) works up the courage to break up with his girlfriend (Ashley Greene) but, before he can go through with it, she's hit by a bus and killed. Just as he is about to start a new relationship with another hottie (Alexandra Daddario), the dead girlfriend returns as a zombie.

I had a hard time liking Anton Yelchin's character. He's this wimpy hipster unmotivated guy that I doubt I could stand for five minutes in real life. Surprisingly, there's no mention of his smoking weed as there usually is with characters like this. You're slacking on your clichés, Joe Dante. He also doesn't contribute much in the humor department. That's left on Ashley Greene's shoulders. Oliver Cooper plays Yelchin's half-brother, which is itself supposed to be a joke of some kind. It's repeated throughout the movie despite never being funny. Some people have half-siblings. I don't get what's funny about that. Outside of that 'joke,' he's pretty much the Jonah Hill character. You know, the fat gross guy who is inexplicably attractive to women and whose material is something that was envelope-pushing decades ago but now seems trite. Consider yourself warned he is naked in this so don't eat while watching. As for Ashley Greene, she owns this thing. She delivers all of the movie's laughs and things just seem less interesting when she's off-screen. Sexy Alexandra Daddario is given little to work with but does fine.

I'm glad to see Joe Dante is still around and hasn't completely lost it. I mean, this is nowhere near the stuff he made in his prime, but it's better than anything John Landis has made lately. It's got a lot of the expected Dante touches (perhaps too many), such as old horror movies constantly playing in the background, a moving truck with the name Romero on it, and an amusing guest appearance from Dick Miller. It almost feels like Dante is homaging himself at this point. Aside from these touches, there really is nothing about this that stands out from a thousand other directors with less status. The movie looks as though it could have been made for television, honestly. It's a watchable horror comedy, funny in parts and gross in others. Worth a look but don't expect much.

The Plot.

When Max (Yelchin) learns that his new live-in girlfriend, Evelyn (Greene) is controlling and manipulative, he is afraid to end the relationship.

However, fate occurs and Evelyn is killed in a freak accident.

A couple months have passed and Max meets his dream girl, Olivia (Daddario).

The new romance gets tricky when Evelyn comes back from the grave and insists on continuing their once relationship by all means.

This is NOT a train wreck in the slightest. It's easy to watch and entertaining. Not really sure why Dante never caught fire after the Gremlins. Maybe it's because his style is more suited for TV. Who knows?

This film was a good surprise. If you are a fan of really bad B horror/sci fi films like I am and like Dante is, you'll get a bonus by watching this movie.

Too be sure, it's a small film with a limited budget, but you can do a lot worse.