I’m talking about Shaun (Simon Pegg), a sadsack satellite television salesman so used to doing this in the exact same way day in and day out he’s on the verge of losing his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) for good. Whether it is spending every evening drinking beer at his favorite local pub The Winchester or playing Playstation like a brain-dead kumquat with underachieving best friend Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun isn’t exactly taking the initiative and, needless to say, Liz is noticing.

So, when she finally does breakup with him, as far as Shaun is concerned it’s the end of the world. He’s angry, frustrated, sad, bitter, remorseful and more than a wee bit put out. Even drinking an entire night away with Ed can even begin to dull the pain. Of course, when the real end of the world comes knocking in the form of flesh-eating undead zombies, Shaun finds it just may be time to put things in perspective. After all, it’s easy to be going nowhere until there is someone trying to eat you.

So, unless he wants to end up dinner it’s time to take initiative. Shaun will do just that by saving Liz, her roommates Dianne (Lucy Davis) and David (Dylan Moran), his mother Mary (Nicola Cunningham) – which could entail bashing in the head of zombie-bitten stepdad Philip (Bill Nighy) – and transport them to the pork rind coziness of The Winchester. With Ed’s help, and with the zombies being such slow-witted buffoons, he can’t fail. And who knows? By showing up to save the day in blood-splattered manly glory he just might win Liz’s heart back in the process.

If only life amongst the undead was that easy. Whether it is Ed’s fetish for fast cars, head butting with the antagonistic David or not having the nerve to bash Philip’s skull, Shaun sure is making a muck of things, and if he and his crew can survive the night without becoming a banquet it would be a miracle. But stranger things have happened, and love can make heroes out of even the oddest of nobodies – even Shaun.

Welcome to the unhinged gory lunacy of “Shaun of the Dead,” a splatter-punk homage to George Romero’s with a bit of Monty Python, Scott Adams, Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson thrown in for good measure. It is a fitfully funny satire of consumerist drudgery laced with enough hemoglobin and intestinal fluid to keep “E.R.” on the air for another ten years, told through the eyes of two characters so clueless a bright, blinking STOP sign decked out in neon lights wouldn’t be enough to get their attention. With zombie movies suddenly all the rage, it is refreshing to see at least one of them not drown in earnestness, throwing the entire genre on its head in ways I haven’t seen since Jackson did it with “Dead Alive” over a decade a go.

Granted, this one isn’t anywhere near as splendid as that, but director Edgar Wright, whom co-wrote with star Pegg, definitely gives it his best shot. The early moments are the best. The world Shaun inhabits isn’t so much different than our own what with people going through the motions of day-to-life as if in a constant daze. From sitting on the bus amongst strangers acting like corpses to reveling in the comforts of a favorite local hangout, Wright and Pegg create a beautifully realized terrain full of rich and detailed characters doing their best, not just to stay alive, but to find meaning to their seemingly listless and undirected lives.

Still, “Shaun” does go on far too long. There is barely enough material here for a 90-minute movie, let alone one stretching near to two hours. And, while the characters are indeed detailed and performed with aplomb, for those that have seen Jackson’s “Dead Alive” there is an extremely high been there/done that quotient hard to ignore. But Wright has a gift for visual ingenuity, and some of his sight gags rise so far above priceless I’m not sure there is a designation suitable for them. Best of the lot: a series of vignettes revolving around Shaun, Ed, Liz and all the rest stuffed into Philip’s Jaguar, driving around town and hoping to all get out that the car’s owner doesn’t suddenly croak and decide to take a bite out of someone.

Film Rating: êêê  (out of 4)