Zero Effect

Zero Effect

I just watched it again. It gets better every time.

When I first saw Zero Effect, I was a little bit disappointed. In the early stages of the film, you're drawn into the eccentric and enigmatic world of Daryl Zero, the world's greatest, and perhaps craziest, private investigator-- but as the story develops, it glides down into a more subdued and somewhat traditional romantic mystery. If you anticipate more of the strangeness that is promised early on in the film, you'll be left hanging.

Watching it with no expectations, I found it to be well constructed, entertaining and even a bit touching. This seems to be director and screenwriter Jake Kasdan's career effort to date. Bill Pullman is so Daryl Zero that you forget he's acting the part and Ben Stiller provides a decidedly un-Stilleresque performance as his assistant, Arlo. (I like Ben Stiller, but he's Ben Stiller and in this role he's not.) The cast is rounded out with fine performances by Ryan O'Neal and Kim Dickens.

This time around, I also grew to appreciate the skillful and subtle cinematography of Bill Pope, who also shot the Matrix series, the last two Spider Man movies and the highly anticipated Frank Miller and Will Eisner project, The Spirit, which is due to be released in December.

Zero Effect is a solid piece of filmmaking and an excellent story, well worth queueing up in your Netflix.