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Zero Effect
By Shalimar Sahota
June 17, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Considered the best private detective, Daryl Zero (Pullman) is a geeky recluse who never steps outside unless he’s working. When we first see him he looks like a spoilt man child who’s just come back from a failed audition attempt for Ace Ventura. Never meeting his clients, he liases with them through his front man, Steve Arlo (Stiller), who is becoming rather incensed with Zero’s general way of working. Zero’s latest job involves him being hired by businessman Gregory Stark, who would like Zero to find his missing keys. From there, this simple task leads to blackmail, revenge, murder and a paramedic by the name of Gloria (Dickens).
Writer and director Jake Kasdan (son of Lawrence Kasdan) was only 23 at the time of filming his directorial debut, considered a modern day update of the Sherlock Holmes story, A Scandal In Bohemia. Zero can solve cases with ease, but his scruffy dress sense, social awkwardness (his partner Steve says he’s never even kissed a girl) and drug use (he’s addicted to amphetamines) places him as the obvious Holmes. Likewise, his frontman Steve comes across as Watson, while Gloria represents Irene Adler, the paramedic whom Zero describes as, “the worthiest opponent and the greatest ally.”
I wouldn’t have expected Pullman to pull off such a zany role, and upon first seeing him, he just looks ridiculous. As the film progresses, we learn that Zero is more than just a one note character. In describing the ability to blend in, Zero says, “See how all the ordinary people around you are behaving… and try to behave like one of them.” Realizing he’s not ordinary himself, he’s challenged to change his appearance when working.
Zero’s methods don’t always make sense. At one point he and Steve are having a conversation with each other over payphones at an airport (because two guys talking at the airport is “a little fishy”). Later they’re both in public watching Stark get to his car, while Zero explains the progress he’s made. What is clever is Pullman’s slow delivery of the dialogue, because Zero is constantly thinking, even while he’s talking, and especially when he’s with Gloria.
The scenes between Pullman and Dickens are excellent, sharing tense moments as they read each other, wondering if one has the other figured out. Some of their serious conversations are played with no background music whatsoever (as they talk in the diner, it is unnaturally silent), which heightens the totally unexpected romantic tension.
Given the writing, the movie actually has a lot of witty moments and quotable dialogue that no one is ever going to quote (“Fuck the whales”). Steve’s response to Zero about how to file a tax return is one of the highlights.
The film plays around with what one would expect from a detective story. As Zero works undercover pretending to be an accountant, he is invited by Gloria to her home to help file her tax returns. As he does this, she decides to take a shower. It’s the perfect opportunity for a gratuitously unnecessary sex scene, except it doesn’t happen! Kasdan puts the thought into motion, for even as Zero snoops around her house some sleazy saxophone music starts to play!
With further proof of going against the grain, Zero’s client Stark is the victim, but also most likely a murderer. Zero’s investigation leads him to try and solve a 25-year-old murder case. What’s also unusual is that despite the crimes, lessons are certainly learnt, though no one faces any consequences. There’s also no climatic action shootout or fisticuffs; it’s actually rather low when it comes to the body count. The final turning point at a planetarium (of all places) actually says more about the characters, rather than providing the audience with some excitable cheap thrills.
With a budget of $5 million, Sony Columbia Pictures distributed Zero Effect, starting out on a limited release. It opened on just 100 screens in January 1998 and managed to score $434,000 on its opening weekend, at a time when Titanic was still leading the box office. With a slight increase in the screen count, the film made $450,000 on its second weekend. For whatever reason, there was no further expansion and after five weeks it scraped just over the $2 million mark. Zero Effect simply came and went.
So what happened? The trailer did an okay job of selling humor but didn’t really put across much of a story. Official movie websites were only just starting to emerge in those days, and Zero Effect’s official site (which astonishingly still exists), had hardly anything on it. Ultimately, modern day detective stories were finding their audiences with TV shows, meaning that big screen cases were (and often still are) unlikely to reach blockbuster status.
With this in mind, a pilot for a TV series prequel was filmed in 2002. Set to show Daryl’s former cases, with Alan Cumming as Daryl Zero, Kasdan was on board directing, with one Judd Apatow as executive producer. Unfortunately hardly anyone saw it since it wasn’t picked up. It would be nice if a special edition DVD/Blu Ray were released with the pilot as an extra feature, though this is likely to remain wishful thinking.
Interestingly the film brought together costume designer Kym Barrett and cinematographer Bill Pope, both of whom went to work on The Matrix the following year. Kasdan himself directed episodes of the TV series Freaks & Geeks before directing the comedies Orange Country to a modest profit, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, which he co-wrote with Judd Apatow.
All the talent involved resulted in an unpredictably refreshing spin on what often passes for a detective story. However, Zero Effect joins neo-noirs Kill Me Again, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Brick, as criminally underrated films that deserved more, and tend to still go unnoticed today.
Written and Directed by – Jake Kasdan
Starring – Bill Pullman (Daryl Zero), Ben Stiller (Steve Arlo), Kim Dickens (Gloria Sullivan), Angela Featherstone (Jess), Ryan O’Neal (Gregory Stark), Hugh Ross (Bill)
Length – 116 minutes
Cert – 15 / R