My Boyfriend's Back

Shot here in Austin and nearby Round Rock under the far better title of Johnny Zombie, this sophomore effort from the previously brilliant Balaban (remember Parents?) takes the notion of flesh-eating ghouls and mixes it with a low-rent high school romance. The resulting mess is neither scary nor funny in any memorable way, and you end up walking out of the theatre more than a little puzzled: what the hell was that? When lovestruck (and virginal) senior Johnny Dingle (Lowery) accidentally dies before he's able to score a date with his heart's desire, Missy (Lind), he ends up coming back from the dead to escort her to the prom (she did, after all, say “Yes” as he lay dying in her arms). Once back, the comedy kicks in, and the newly resurrected Johnny is shuffling around school eyeing the other kids as if they were wandering racks of lamb in need of a little Stridex basting. Missy, meanwhile, has gotten back together with her brain-dead jock beau and no longer want to have anything to do with Johnny. In and out of class, the poor guy is taunted by whispers of “there goes that dead kid” and sundry other problems (when Missy consents to a date and nibbles on his ear, it comes off in her mouth). Balaban apparently thought that this new angle -- boy zombie taken for granted by friends and family -- would be a hoot, and it is for a few minutes, but this slight film ends up becoming more annoying than anything else, and it does that at an alarming pace. Even Lowery, a talented young guy who was one of the best things about last summer's School Ties, seems to have nowhere to go here, trapped in a parody of a cliché with a lousy ending and sub-par zombie effects. Yawn.