by Joe Murray

Created on: October 07, 2009   Last Updated: October 08, 2009

Rubin Fleischer's much anticipated directorial debut, "Zombieland," is not quite as intense as "Night of the Living Dead," nor as disturbing as "Day of the Dead," nor as grotesque as "Dawn of the Dead," nor as remorseless as "Shaun of the Dead," not as hysterical as "Return of the Living Dead," nor as gorenographic as "Grindhouse: Planet Terror," and definitely not as terrifying as "28 Days Later."

Indeed, once you get past the obligatory blood-spattered first act, "Zombieland," at heart, is even kind of sweet...and quite funny.

But what else would you have with a gruesome flesh-eating zombie movie co-starring a cute zombie-blasting 12-year-old girl? Thankfully, Fleischer resists the Full Monty of ponies, pink unicorns and fluffy kittens so virulent in the little girl genre, though a puppy named Buck figures in to Woody Harrelson's flinty "Tallahassee" character as a confirmation that his foul-mouthed he-man is a morass of sentimentality as vulnerable as a sloppy wet puppy kiss, unrevealed except as ten percent of his iceberg showing above the Plimsoll line, especially after Tallahassee finds a cache of machine guns in the back seat of a banana yellow Hummer, prompting him to declare, "God! I love rednecks!"

Yep. That's the ride you're on.

Again, no mention is made about the origin of the zombie plague. Only the manic (and highly watchable) "Return of the Living Dead" relates it to a US Army germ warfare experiment that was maybe a little too successful. But writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick economically inform us that the whole world's gone cadaver dog - even Washington DC is one humongous car wreck - kicking off a clever ultra-slow motion title sequence illustrating the flesh-eating blood-vomiting orgy that the planet has become. The network TV censors will no doubt want to deal out the topless stripper zombie (complete with dollar bills poking out of her bikini briefs), but the rest is just a good clean mess.

The fraidy-cat "Columbus" character (Jesse Eisenberg) narrates that "Zombieland" can be survived if one sharply adheres to a strict set of rules:

Rule #1: Cardio. The zombies don't just run after people, they sprint. "The first one's to go were the fatties."

Rule #2: Double Tap. "Get a gun and learn how to use it... And don't be stingy with your ammunition... This lady would still be alive if she put another round in, instead of becoming just another human happy meal."

Rule #3: Beware of bathrooms.

Rule #4: Seatbelts!

Rule #31: Check the back seat.

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