The undead prefer soft jazz and attics. Gosh, what else? Craft stores? Farmer’s markets? At that rate, I might just know some undead. I can’t say Life After Beth had any great insight into our life-challenged friends, yet it’s nice to know they have enough personality to fill out a dating profile.
Speaking of dating the dead, Zach (Dane DeHaan) is still seeing Beth (Aubrey Plaza) after her funeral. Like everybody else, he assumed that Beth’s fatal snakebite transformed her to a permanent condition. HA! Fool. You don’t get rid of Beth that easy. None of this is explained. Zach is the heart-broken boyfriend. He befriends Beth’s parents (John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon) and they bond over their collective loss. And then one day, Beth is back, cheery, and still wearing the polka-dot white dress she was buried in. And, just as suddenly, Maury (Reilly) starts laying down dating rules. Whoa, dad! Now there are rules?! For what purpose? What’s worse than, “She died?”
I wonder what The Bible has to say about dating the dead. Jesus wasn’t exactly on z-date postmortem, but dude was still single, no? Never mind.
Does it go without saying that Beth isn’t normal? I mean, aside from the fact that she’s been dead several days, Beth also starts developing other issues: memory loss, skin issues, freakish strength, lack of object permanence recognition, the love for smooth jazz and attics as stated above, and I can’t stress this enough – she keeps wearing that damn white dress everywhere. Look, dead or no, fashion is fashion; this isn’t a cartoon. Change your outfit once in a while. And, of course, being Aubrey Plaza, the zombified person of Beth starts developing temper issues. I think that was kind of inevitable given casting.
So how much slack do I offer the career of Aubrey Plaza? While almost no actress in movie history can match her multi-levels of peeved, I’m not terribly sure she has much else to offer. Is it enough to be the Queen Bee of annoyance? There is no question that Aubrey will know and apply the exact correct amount of negative stimuli to lose a telemarketer, humiliate a boyfriend, or get better service at the deli counter … but is that enough by itself to hang a career on? Is some 
award-winning writer currently penning Raiders of the Lass, Irked or Fifty Shades of Grating? Much as I’m attracted to her endless desire to confront and own, I’m not sure Aubrey is My Gal Friday, knowwhatI’msayin’?
Dane DeHaan should never be a romantic lead. Never. His look is wrong, and while we can appreciate that we live in a time when “wrong looks” should be given another look, Dane is a damn good villain and his beau rapport comes off as cheap whine. As for the film, well, it was mostly miss. I didn’t appreciate the failure to tell me what was going on, and I actually did root for Zach to put distance between himself and Beth, which bites, cuz I would love to see Aubrey Plaza tear into Dane DeHaan in most any other circumstances. However, as the film evolved, the lack of exposition yielded to the development of black comedy. There’s a hiking scene late in the picture that is drop-dead hilarious. It takes a while to get there, and you probably won’t enjoy the ride, and it’s probably not worth the effort, either, but it’s there, dammit.
♪I’ve never seen you looking so ashen as you did last night
I swear you looked like a wight
I’ve never so many men flee from your very presence
Really frightened all those gents, in unworldly sense
And I’ve never seen you so despairing
Or that crazed hunger within your eyes
Don’t make me blind
The lady undead
Is gnawing on me
Piece by piece
There’s no humans here
To come rescue me
At least none I can see
And I hardly know this demon by my side
I’ll never forget this pointless genocide♫
Rated R, 89 Minutes
Director: Jeff Baena
Writer: Jeff Baena
Genre: Dead GF
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Zombies
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who need explanations
♪ Parody Inspired by “The Lady in Red”
