The basic story is not that unusual -- it's a post-apocalyptic world in which nearly everyone has become a zombie, but a few stragglers survive. But the acting, with Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Emma Stone, is top-notch, the characters are quirky, and the writing is extremely clever and never lets up.
Eisenberg plays Columbus -- the characters mostly don't use their names, just places they are from -- a loner who needs to visit the bathroom frequently and has 31 rules that keep him alive. Definitely not the Will Smith/Chuck Norris competent, ruthless type you expect to survive the zombie apocalypse. Woody Harrelson (Tallahassee) is more the zombie-killer with a real chip on his shoulder, but he is also on a quest to find and eat the last Twinkie before they all go bad. Emma Stone (Wichita) is a con artist still conning her way through life in Zombieland along with her little sister, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).
All of these people are headed different directions but end up traveling together to try to find a fabled safe haven in Los Angeles. Along the way they scam each other, fight zombies, look for Twinkies, and grudgingly get used to being together. But what makes it work is that the movie is just different, quick-witted and fun almost all the way through. My advice is, watch it for 20 minutes; if you like that, you'll like the rest.
There is one very different portion of the film that plays almost like an intermission. The four main characters decide to stay in Bill Murray's mansion, and it turns out Bill Murray himself is one of the few people still alive and is living there when they show up. Although this is remotely plausible within the parameters of the movie, it takes you away from the story for a few minutes, until Bill moves on and the movie does too.
It looks like they are planning a sequel. Count me in.
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