Are You With Us?
Zero Effect
By Ryan Mazie
January 27, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Bill Pullman stars as the titular Daryl Zero – the world’s most private detective (as the tagline cleverly puts it). Zero is an eccentric hermit who lounges around his house in blindly chosen clothing, writing eardrum-pounding music, seeming like an overgrown child. Only coming out of his reclusiveness as a socially functioning member of society when on an assignment, he has his assistant, Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller), to live out the other rest of his life and get him contracts. Arlo bills Zero as the world’s greatest detective to potential wealthy clients with a mystery needing solving with the utmost confidentiality. Zero’s new case is to find tight-lipped tycoon Gregory Stark’s (Ryan O’Neal) missing keys and a blackmailer harassing him for money. Attributing his finding prowess to how he detaches himself from the cases, Zero is in for a challenge, getting involved with a heart-racing paramedic (Kim Dickens) linked to the investigation.
For me I have always been more of a Ben Stiller fan than Adam Sandler when it comes to goofy, broad comedy. While they both make me laugh (although Grown Ups made me want to crawl out of my skin), where Sandler seems to have put his characters in wash-rinse-repeat mode, Stiller changes it up from the same stale formula. This is especially true in Stiller’s earlier work where he picked projects even though they might not have a chance at grossing over $100 million. Never even hearing about this film before, seeing Ben second-billed was enough for me to give it a go and I am sure glad I did.
However, Stiller plays second banana to Bill Pullman’s Daryl Zero. In a role not too far off from something Jim Carrey would take (in matter of fact his clothing looks an awful lot like a certain pet detective Carrey once played), Pullman just walks and talks to great comedic effect. Bill owns this character, giving him many tics and traits (popping amphetamines is one) as he comes out of his lavish, alarm and lock covered house into the real world. Brilliant at solving cases by under-analyzing and looking at the obvious, Zero is a quirky character that you would love to see again, much like the quirky hemaphobiac detective in another under seen laugher I love to recommend, The Darwin Awards. This film unfortunately marked the beginning of the end of Pullman’s mainstream film career (or maybe no one really noticed because like me they think Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton are the same person). However with continuously strong turns in shocking indies like the horrific Surveillance and interesting The Killer Inside Me, maybe going small was the biggest thing to happen to Pullman.
Stiller plays the straight man, acting as the voice of reason to the eccentric Zero. Whether it be explaining how to fill out a W2 form (“No, WW2 is a war”) or doing mindless research by reading phonebooks, Ben is a great Watson, keeping his Holmes in check and the case on track. A few months after Zero Effect entered the box office, There’s Something About Mary hit theaters and the rest was leading man history for Stiller.
Released January 30, 1998, the film lived up to its title, taking Zero Effect on the box office. Shot on the cheap for $5 million under the Sony Pictures/Castle Rock Entertainment banner, the film was dropped in 100 theaters, doing okay business with a $4,348 per venue average. But for reasons unknown, the studio did not expand the film any further, letting it wind up with a surprising $2 million, more than five times the opening weekend. Put out on DVD with bare bone features, Zero Effect seemed one of those strange films that could’ve been a hit, but was brushed under the carpet. I have not even seen this movie rerun on TV before, which is surprising since it has that humor one can watch over and over again.
Guess someone beat me to the chase on that idea, though.
In 2001, NBC ordered a TV pilot adaptation of the movie starring Alan Cumming as Daryl Zero. It was to serve as a prequel on how Zero and Arlo became a team. The potential series never made it past the pilot stage.
While the film looks like a blip on most of the cast’s resumes, one person that it benefited was writer/director Jake Kasdan. Son of Empire Strikes Back writer Lawrence Kasdan, Jake proved he had his own knack for writing and directing and was not just riding off of his famous last name. Jake went on to direct TV episodes, notably Judd Apatow’s Freaks and Geeks, until 2002 with his feature film follow-up Orange County. In 2007 he paired up with Judd Apatow to co-write and direct the unfunny spoof Walk Hard, that promptly flopped. In between these two films is where Jake hit comedic gold with the independent comedy, The TV Set. If you have not seen this movie, which probably you haven’t, go and get it NOW. Assumingly inspired after his failed TV Pilot of Zero Effect, The TV Set chronicles the making-of a TV pilot from concept to airing (In another confession of actors I constantly confuse, it also stars Sigourney Weaver, who I always combine with Susan Saranadon).
While the film at first seemed like run of the mill quirkiness, Kasdan’s witty writing and observant nature, developing a clear sense of whom the characters are caused the film to sneak up on me. By the end I was totally hooked and could not wait for the next case this modern day Holmes and Watson would take. Sadly, this clearly wasn’t going to happen.
With a timeless plot of missing keys and blackmail and non-pop culture humor, like any good comedy, Zero Effect is with us. Ben Stiller fans should like watching comedy’s leading man take a supporting role right before catapulting into the big leagues. Also, for anyone who has seen any of Bill Pullman’s newer work, it is interesting to see him laugh psychotically than actually be, you know, psychotic. It's fun to follow Daryl as he solves the seemingly impossible case. Zero Effect will give you a case of laughter.
Verdict: With Us
7 out of 10