Movies

‘Life After Beth’ is semi-dead on arrival

A college student named Zach finds dating his girlfriend is, uh, complicated after she dies and is resurrected in the zombie rom-com “Life After Beth,’’ which unfortunately is nowhere near as funny as you’d expect with its stellar cast.

Rising star Dane DeHaan — the scene stealer of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2’’ and the James Dean of an upcoming film — plays Zach, who’s despondent after his squeeze, Beth (Aubrey Plaza), dies from a snakebite. But he’s overjoyed, if slightly confused, when he discovers her parents are hiding her at their home a couple of weeks after her funeral.

(From top left, clockwise) John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan star in the zombie rom-com.Greg Smith

The parents (John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon) reluctantly let him in, but only if he agrees not to tell their daughter, who has no memory of her death, what happened. They’re also adamant that he not take her out on dates.

But our hero does anyway, and he discovers she’s not quite the same Beth as before: She’s developed a taste for smooth jazz and for snacking on the upholstery in his car.

Beth also smells terrible — and she’s suddenly sexually insatiable.

It turns out that Beth is just the vanguard of an invasion of newly risen undead in their small California town — and Zach’s loose-cannon brother (Matthew Gray Gubler), a security guard, is itching to shoot them all, including Beth, in the head.

Debuting director Jeff Baena — who co-wrote the manic David O. Russell misfire “I Heart Huckabees’’— doesn’t fully exploit the premise (which sounds funnier on paper) or his stellar cast. It also includes Paul Reiser and Cheryl Hines as Zach’s parents, a brief appearance by Anna Kendrick as a non-dead girl who becomes interested in Zach — and a cameo by Garry Marshall as a resurrected grandpa.

Another big problem with “Life After Beth” is that DeHaan plays his role much too straight — while the ubiquitous Plaza, way over-the-top in her second film in as many weeks, not only chews the upholstery, but also the scenery.