Zero Effect

Overview

Steve Arlo. Daryl Zero. They've got private investigation covered from A to Z. Solving a murder is easy. Living - being a functioning person away from the job - that's hard. With sly humor and a sleuth's eye for detail, writer/director Jake Kasdan makes his feature-film debut. Bill Pullman is Zero: a genius on the job, a basket case in life. Ben Stiller is Arlo, Zero's frustrated front man. Their new case: finding a shady tycoon's (Ryan O'Neal) missing keys, a search unlocking a Pandora's Box of blackmail, revenge and murder. But when love zeroes in on Zero, the world's best detective suddenly hasn't got a clue.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/16/2013
UPC:	0883316841846
Original Release:	0000
Source:	WARNER BROS.DIGITAL DIST
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Language:	English
Sales rank:	6,426

Editorial Reviews

The set-up for Zero Effect is promising: A hermetic genius solves mysteries with his Sherlock-like powers of observation and the help of his increasingly embittered sidekick. Though the film ends up falling just a little short of its potential, it provides a fresh take on the detective genre. The mystery is chock-full of twists and turns, including a high-spirited and atypical love-interest Kim Dickens who may be more than she appears. Daryl Zero's reclusiveness and curiosity make for some original and amusing scenes, as when he gets on a treadmill next to his client, who has no idea that Zero is the rarely-seen mastermind he's hired. The relationship between Zero and Arlo is also pleasingly unique, one of mutual admiration, friendship and, for Arlo, sheer frustration -- emotions that suit Ben Stiller's comic edge very well. Occasionally the film is a little flat, taking too much time between laughs or surprises. Zero Effect was written and directed by the then 22-year-old Jake Kasdan, son of veteran filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan, and there is much here to assert the younger Kasdan's promise.