Zombieland's not much of a horror movie. There are some really good scares in the first act, and it's set in a world that's been devastated by zombies (but not, I think, the undead. These zombies seem to be much more like the Rage-infected types from 28 Days Later and less like the ghouls of George A. Romero's films), but if you're hoping for a really gory, juicy, splattery zombie movie, look elsewhere.

That's the bad news. The good news is that if you're looking for an incredibly funny, sweet, smart and enjoyable movie, Zombieland is right for you. The zombies exist at the backdrop against which Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a neurotic, Woody Allen-esque survivor and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), an ass-kicking tough guy survivor, have a relationship. This movie could have been set in the world of Mad Max or after a meteor hit the planet; the important thing isn't that there are zombies, the important thing is that there's no one else.

Well, no one else except two girls. Wichita (an almost unearthly looking Emma Stone) and her little sister Little Rock are making do on their own, scamming and scavenging. These two groups collide and make for a sweet and funny little family. I know that sounds kind of awful, but believe me when I say it's not, and that a huge part of what makes this all not awful is the script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Many of the jokes are dagger sharp, and no joke opportunity is wasted. But Reese and Wernick don't just chase gags - they find the organic, believable ways to have characters say these lines. And Zombieland is full of great lines - this movie feels like a quoter's dream.

Director Ruben Fleischer does some really impressive stuff. This isn't a 100 million dollar movie, but he's able to find the views of American desolation that sell this as being post-apocalyptic. He places the four figures within these big, empty landscapes in ways that emphasize their closeness against the big, scary empty out there. That's really what Zombieland is about - not about the rules for surviving a zombie plague (although that's a very funny and very visual running gag throughout the movie), but about how damaged people can come together to find happiness and love.

If you were to take Zombieland at name value - ie as a zombie movie - it's one of the weirdest I've ever seen. For one thing, it's completely hopeful. Zombie films are, by their nature, almost always bleak. There may be a glimmer of hope at the end, but usually it feels like a band-aid on a gaping chest wound. Every good zombie movie has a sociopolitical layer, and Zombieland is no different, but this sociopolitical layer is about Obama, and about the end of the recession. This is a movie about making it through the bad times and seeing the other side. That's kind of cool, but I have to admit that it left me a touch disoriented at the finale, because I'm just not used to walking out of zombie films feeling... good.

The chemistry between Eisenberg and Harrelson is so good it's almost obscene. This is a tough relationship to pull off - Tallahassee immediately senses that Columbus is a bitch - but they navigate the waters well, without ever becoming too touchy feelie or even chummy. It's a real relationship that maybe wouldn't happen in the normal world, but in the chaos of Zombieland these two opposites together make perfect sense. Breslin and Stone are good, and Stone particularly has a great sort-of bad girl thing down, but they don't come close to matching the wattage of their male co-stars.

There's also a secret cameo in the film - hell, cameo doesn't even do it justice. It's an amazing sequence that works like magic and that, even though it comes towards the end of the second act, really gels the movie together tonally. It's a sequence that defines what Zombieland is and what it's trying to do, and it sums up why I like this film so much. It's a bummer that I can't talk about it.

One thing about Zombieland that I want to call out for specific commendation: this is almost 100% a post-zombie apocalypse movie. With the exception of a flashback or two, this film completely takes place after humanity has been wiped out. It's not about people trying to figure out how to survive or crawling from the wreckage, it's about people who have survived and how they live their day to day life in this world. We haven't seen enough zombie movies like that, and it really sets Zombieland apart from the walking (or in this case running) dead glut we've experienced the last decade.

Zombieland was originally conceived as a TV pilot, and I think you can still see that element in the film's ending. I certainly would love to tune in every week to follow the adventures of Columbus and Tallahassee and Little Rock and Wichita; these are engaging characters set in a vivid world with the benefit of smart, really fucking funny writers putting words in their mouths. What else can you ask for? Well, maybe some more gut-chomping, but not every zombie movie can be Day of the Dead.

8.5 out of 10