Jackson Free Press

In this new empty-nest chapter of our lives, my husband, Mark, and I fill the void with a standing Saturday night date where we typically check out a new movie. We sing happy songs on the way to the theater and rekindle the spirit of a middle-aged couple whose favorite ad during the Super Bowl was the one from Taco Bell where a bunch of fun-loving geriatrics escape from the nursing home for a night on the town and cap it off with a snack.

OK ... I might be painting the rose-colored tint too thick. Inevitably, date night consists of my spouse spouting about the poor driving habits of those on Interstate 55, while I frantically clutch the passenger door as we close in on the tail of a pick-up truck slowly cruising in the left lane, and I have to hear from him for the zillionth time how Italians appreciate the finer points of driving in the 
fast lane.

It takes stamina to get to the theater. I'm usually worn out by the time we arrive, and this weekend, the movie choices ranged from a romantic zombie comedy called "Warm Bodies" to Sylvester Stallone in "A Bullet to the Head." I opted for the rom-zom-com, while my husband wanted to see Sly get all Rambo in a faded-glory ode to macho violence. I prevailed in the selection process by reasonably pointing out that there was absolutely nothing I could write about regarding "A Bullet to the Head," other than wanting a piece of lead to end my agony. It's February, and the cinematic choices are ... well ... slim pickings.

Adapted from Isaac Marion's short story-turned-teen novel, "Warm Bodies" features a bunch of slow shuffling corpses separated from the living by a great wall. R (Nicholas Hoult), the angst-ridden hero of the living dead, believes that his existence could be better. He laments how pale he is. He can't connect to others. He doesn't remember his name. A plague has wiped out much of the population, reducing the world to humans and zombies. The completely lost causes are the "Bonies," who are herky-jerky skeletons with a skull full of teeth chasing after anything with a heart beat.

Bonies or not, the zombies must eat living flesh. R, his friend M (Rob Corddry) and other zombies travel in packs, lurching to the parts of town where they can find flesh, rip out throats and suck out the brains from the living. 
 It's during one of these flesh-eating runs that R sees the girl of his dreams, Julie (Teresa Palmer), who happens to be the daughter of General Grigio (John Malkovich), the great protector of the dwindling human population. Cheesy music punctuates the moment. And then R gobbles Julie's boyfriend's brains and gets struck by a barrage of memories of a beautiful girl, sunshine and life itself.

The tone of the film, which is written and directed by Jonathan Levine ("50/50"), hits the right funny spot. If you ignore the allusion to R for Romeo and Julie for Juliet, the movie is sheer fun and works from a delicious theme: trying to find your heart while those around you are rotting away. The pendulum shifts when R and Julie hold hands in front of a blood-thirsty group of zombies. That small act revives the living in the dead, and leads to humans and zombies joining forces against the Bonies.

Hoult carries the film on his shlepped-over back. His voiceover fills in the gaps of his character's inarticulateness. His dry delivery makes us laugh. Palmer rises above Kristen Stewart's listlessness and gives a resonating performance. The special effects, however, lack the power of amazement.

When the sun shines at the end, though, the movie's numerous flaws melt away. "Warm Bodies" has enough heart to suppress any curmudgeonly thoughts for an hour and a half. It may even become a cult classic.