you've got to enjoy the little things.

Zombieland is a zomromcom in the tradition of Shaun of the Dead, another very clever, very reverent pastiche of zombie movie tropes. Though not without its flaws, the film is a unique and occasionally hilarious take on very well-tread cinematic territory.

Jesse "Not Michael Cera" Eisenberg plays a nebbishy survivor of a zombie apocalypse (beautifully introduced through the opening credits) who meets up with a big dumb yet supremely confident son of the soil (Woody Harrelson) and a pair of con artist sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin). Eisenberg has managed to survive the zombie apocalypse through a series of rules ("Cardio," "Always check the back seat," "Beware of bathrooms") that hearken simultaneously to precedents in a thousand zombie movies and to Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide. Although I was initially wary of Eisenberg's narration, he and his character definitely grew on me as the movie went on. Like everyone else, though, he takes a backseat to Woody Harrelson's Tallahassee ("When Tallahassee goes Hulk on a zombie, he sets a new standard for 'not to be fucked with'"), the film's Phillip Seymour Hoffman Memorial Designated Supporting Character Who's Far More Interesting Than the Protagonists, who consciously one-ups himself in terms of spectacular zombie kills and who paints the number 3 on the side of every vehicle he commandeers.

Zombie films, when they're "about" anything, tend to concern either stupidly earnest social commentary (We're the zombies!) or character sketches about survivors. That Zombieland ends up in the latter camp is no surprise; that it's so unexpectedly sweet--even sentimental--is. The film examines the relationships between the four survivors as they slowly develop into a sort of impromptu family, but the erratic spurts of establishing trust really bog down the movie in places, not to mention the romantic subplot between Eisenberg and Stone the movie needlessly shoehorned in. At its best, though, the movie takes full advantage of the social wasteland to show how four people stuck in various stages of arrested development grow up together, sometimes very poignantly; unlike the vast majority of zombie movies, the film makes it extraordinarily difficult to root against the protagonists.

The comedy is more hit than miss, with some very funny, self-aware scenes revolving around Eisenberg's rules for dealing with zombies. Woody Harrelson gets some of the best lines, and the scene of him drying his tears with hundred-dollar bills still puts a smile on my face. Some of the jokes are duds, though, especially the kind that come out of Abigail Breslin's mouth or that have to do with Twinkies. There's a cameo in the movie (which will probably already have been spoiled for you by the time you see the movie) that works extremely well for some people, but not for me. Overall, the movie has more than enough choice lines to make up for the flat ones.

And the zombies? They're inexplicably gooey, and not terribly scary. In fact, very little in this movie is rooted in the standard doom-and-gloom-and-eek-zombies formula you find in most zombie films, save for when Eisenberg first learns about the outbreak of the contagion. There's plenty of gore and airborne fluids (again, in the fantastic opening credits montage), but the filmmakers are thankfully far more interested in their characters than in stupid "gotcha" scares.

Despite its uneven second act and some extremely convenient plot turns, Zombieland is a fine movie. There are some absolutely priceless lines of dialogue ("Fuck this clown!") and every cast member is comfortable in their role by the end of the movie; throw in some sweet if blunt examinations of family, and you end up with a pretty rewarding movie. B+ (worth the dollar).