Zombie rom-com: that label alone should have film-buffs excited for the movie “Warm Bodies,” which was released Feb. 1. I mean, have you ever heard anything like it? Zombies sentient enough to partake in an affair of love and romance? Finally, I thought, sitting down to watch “Warm Bodies” Friday night. Finally something new.

The film did not disappoint. Think of every cliché in every zombie movie mixed with every cliché in every romance movie, and then imagine a comedy that recognizes and identifies each of those clichés for the sole purpose of mocking them.

“Warm Bodies” skips the part where a plague wipes out most of humanity, or a diseased animal infects the first dead. It doesn’t mention the origins of the single human base, or the swarms of grunting dead wobbling around, because that isn’t important. What is important is that this is now the reality, and R (played by Nicholas Hoult) is just one of the millions of inarticulate, graceless dead, but possesses the clear inner monologue of a self-conscious young adult going through a mid-afterlife crisis.

From his existential crisis stems an unlikely and sudden romance with the living Julie (Teresa Palmer), and this romance is fueled by R’s continual consumption of her dead — but not undead — boyfriend’s brains. Rob Corddry joins the cast as R’s hilarious and empathetic best friend and zombie wingman, M.

The film embraces surprisingly funny one-liners and makes fun of its own emotional moments. It’s a light, fluffy, 97 minute-long adventure to save the zombies and humans both from the “bonies,” the next level of zombies who lack anything but instinct and hunger. It’s one of those movies I could watch several times in a row.

Zombie movie lovers might not appreciate the romance; romance movie lovers might not like the zombies. But for people who love movies and can appreciate new ideas in film, this movie is well worth the trip to the theater.

My grade: B+