‘Zombieland: Double Tap’

to mine the time lapse for real laughs. And honestly, the mustily misogynistic humor on display wouldn’t have even played in 2009 anyway.

“Zombieland: Double Tap”(a double entendre referring to both the mechanism by which one likes an Instagram photo, and Eisenberg’s character’s approach to confirming zombie kills) imagines a world where “The Social Network” never happened, positioning Eisenberg as the nerd who gets the girl despite being unforgivably self-involved.

Even Stone is in full snarky cool girl “Superbad” mode. Watching this film is like experiencing an alternate universe where the stars never grew up and neither did the humor. But the world changed. The audience changed. This slapdash cash-grab sequel is not nostalgic, but in a word, taxing.

We find the fearsome foursome of Tallahassee (Harrelson), Columbus (Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin) playing house in the White House when we catch up with them. Columbus quickly gets us up to speed, reminding us of his endless zombie survival rules, while Fleischer reminds us of his self-reflective on-screen text tic.

Although Columbus wants to settle down with his woman, Wichita, watching the odd family rattle messily around the Oval Office isn’t all that interesting, so Wichita and Little Rock take off. When Wichita returns with the news that Little Rock absconded to Graceland with a pacifist hippie, Berkeley (Avan Jogia), the group gives chase. Tagging along is Columbus’ new love interest, airhead mallrat Madison (Zoey Deutch), whom › Rating: R for bloody violence, language throughout, some drug and sexual content

› Running time: 1 hour,

39 minutes

Columbus triangulates between himself and Wichita to spark her jealousy.

Along with zombie heads, “Double Tap” bludgeons the stale jokes about minivans and ditzy blondes to goo. Deutch and Jogia give their all to the tired stereotypes with which they’re saddled, while the rest of the crew fuss and whine narcissistically about their love lives. In this apocalyptic wasteland, they dehumanize anyone but themselves.

The plot only perks up when new elements are introduced, like a pair of doppelgangers, Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch), who appear all too briefly, and a fun moment with Rosario Dawson driving a monster truck. But it feels like any new ideas were jettisoned for the same old schtick. “Zombieland” may have helped to give birth to the zomb-aissance, but “Double Tap” just might be the kill shot.

JESSICA MIGLIO/COLUMBIA PICTURES Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg appear in a scene from “Zombieland: Double Tap.”