Director Jim Jarmusch has throughout his long and very independent career given us such absurdist delights as Down By Law, Stranger Than Paradise, Mystery Train, Coffee and Cigarettes and more recently the most excellent Paterson. So the news that he’d be applying his unique sensibility to the zom-com genre was received with great anticipation.

Adam Driver and Bill Murray head up an all-star cast that includes Tom Waits, Chloe Sevigny, Danny Glover, Steve Buscemi, Rosie Perez and Tilda Swinton, backed up with a whole mess of big-name cameos; apparently everyone wants to be in a Jim Jarmusch movie.

But maybe not this one. I’m a great fan of the director, but he’s coasting here. Lines are delivered with a practiced drollness that comes off as apathetic, and what humor there is comes from a few overworked running gags.

It’s still worth seeing; it’s a Jim Jarmusch movie after all, and not without its pleasures. But if you’re looking for a killer zombie spoof, go rent Shaun of the Dead.

(104 min)