Zero Effect (1998)

The big budget films that Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller get leave me unimpressed. The films a lark, but who are these guys? Can they act? Given an interesting script and a good director, Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller certainly can act.This is no comedy, although there are moments where you will laugh.This is not a derivative version of a Sherlock Holmes story, although there are interesting comparisons.I had not heard of this movie when I bought a VHS copy in a close-out bin. Since then, I have watched it every few years. It is the best work I have seen them do.

"To Sherlock Holmes, she is always 'the woman'. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory." - A Scandal in BohemiaJake Kasdan directs "Zero Effect", an excellent but little-seen film which relocates Arthur Conan Doyle's now-iconic Sherlock Holmes to contemporary United States. The film's narrative is loosely based on "A Scandal in Bohemia", an early Holmes classic.The plot? Bill Pullman plays Darryl Zero, a socially inept private detective who lives a secluded existence, locked away in the high-tech apartment from which he solves cases from afar, often without ever leaving his home. As he is "The World's Greatest Detective", most of Zero's job offers come to him from high-flying corporate types, who pay well and are willing to forgive the detective for his many eccentricities. Meanwhile, in his private life, Zero's a slob, recluse, seems to be nursing some deep scars and relies on assistant Steve Arlo, played by Ben Stiller, to act as a continuous middle man. Arlo does all of Zero's legwork, sets up meetings, interviews and attends events on Zero's behalf. Zero's philosophy is to have "zero effect", to remain "outside the world", such that "there is no feedback", "no contamination", "no trace effects". He solves crimes from above, a distance, through sheer mental computation, research, intellect and study, and intervenes directly, steps into the petri dish, only via his physical avatar, Arlo. As Arlo says to a prospective client: "Zero never meets any of his clients. He doesn't speak with them or for that matter communicate in any direct fashion. He never even leaves the house." This modus operandi breaks down when Zero is pulled into a blackmail case which piques his interest. As such he travels to LA – a city romantically associated with private detectives – and sets about investigating. Hilariously, the case revolves something as trivial as a set of lost keys. But the mystery isn't important, and the film seems more interested in functioning as a character study. In this regard Zero meets a blackmailer called Gloria Sullivan, who intrigues the great detective. As Zero has zero social life, no social skills and is awkward around women, he finds approaching Gloria unsettling. She's based on Irene Adler from Doyle's "A Scandal in Bohemia", both clever women with a fondness for blackmailing powerful men.At its best, "Zero Effect" functions as a love story about a damaged couple who struggle to connect. Take, for example, a scene in which Zero's painfully uncomfortable around Gloria; he all but explodes when she briefly touches him. Elsewhere the film flips several Sherlock Holmes conventions, with Zero (rather than Watson) documenting his methods himself via voice-overs and a combative relationship between Zero and his sidekick, Arlo, who can't stand the eccentric detective at all. There are other changes - Zero does amphetamines whilst Holmes did cocaine, Zero jams on acoustic guitars whilst Holmes did violins and Zero taps away at computers whilst Holmes prowled bookcases and ledgers – but these are all minor.This was Kasdan's debut as a director, so aesthetically the film's a bit shaky. A lovably weird performance by Pullman, who was making a number of neo-noirs and interesting films during this period (Lynch's "Lost Highway", Wenders' "End of Violence" etc), makes up for this. The script was written by the young Kasdan himself (roughly 22 years old), and is well written, particularly Zero's noirish monologues.8.5/10 – See another excellent Holmes film, "They Might be Giants". Worth two viewings.

The Daryl Zero character is an obvious parody of Sherlock Holmes, with Steve Arlo as an obvious Watson. The eccentric genius worshiped in the 19th century is of course totally insane in a late 20th century setting – the more as 'Watson's bourgeois virtues are accentuated. The plot is heavily based on the Holmes story 'A Scandal in Bohemia'. Actually you can identify most of the film's character from the short story, as well as the main conflicts – though the father-daughter aspect is original. 'Zero Effect' might be seen as an example of 'post-modernism' in film, with the many levels of references to literature, genre and popular culture. Knowledge of the sources of intertextuality makes the film the more enjoyable. If you love the Works of the Coen brothers, chances are you'll love this one too.

This starts off pretty good, gets a little better and then fades in the second half and keeps fading.The twists and revelations in the final minute come too late to save the film. Once the suspense the romance ends, it just doesn't work the rest of the way.All of the characters, except by the one played by Ben Stiller, are either crooked or have no life or no conscience so it was tough for me to like a film that has so many unappealing leads.Bill Pullman's narration was pretty good but there was little else for me to recommend this film.