Film Number 41 – Zero Effect
Beginning with all the coolness of the usual Conman film, we are introduced to Ben Stiller’s character a well educated man working for one of the world’s most infamous private detectives – the paranoid socially inept Darryl Zero (Bill Pullman). Ben Stiller is the assistant of this highly eccentric detective, we are told early on about all of his quirks and skills, Zero is a complete social recluse shutting himself away from the world in an apartment with a complex security system on the top floor of a giant building. He takes on a new intricate blackmail case from a tycoon played by Ryan O’Neil, the mission takes Zero on a series of twists and turns, he falls in love with a girl and solves the complicated case.
I won’t go too much into the plot so I can avoid spoiling it, the script is really fun, very witty and sharp dialogue, the characters are all quite captivating. Zero is a master at reading people and Pullman plays it perfectly with the right amount of bizarre nuance to separate him from every other master mind that we’ve seen on film. The only real fault of this character is that there is a lot of introduction and establishment and it does stop the story from jumping in at the beginning. The plot stays very idle in the middle when Zero starts a relationship, it’s interesting to watch but the film defiantly stays in this moment for far too long, it was important to set up this relationship but it needed to be smoother and more intertwined to the mission.
The other problem is that as the film progresses the character of Darryl Zero become so interesting and rich that no other character holds your attention. They all are strongly overshadowed by Pullman’s weird eccentricities and it kind of makes the main plot thread that isn’t about Zero a bit of a side note. The film looses it’s suave stylistic tone from the beginning and becomes more about the characters, the problem is that the film still insists on showing these long cool hip scenes of people walking with tight synchronization and by this point they have lost their effect. The plotting becomes slightly convoluted as well but it is still more than acceptable, some of the best moments are listening to Zero writing his memoirs/ journal reflecting on the case and the many new feelings he experience.
The film maybe suffers from trying to be too clever and complex, it looses the focus heading into the third act and manages to get it back right at the end. Great music choices throughout adds to the fun slick nature of the film. Ben Stiller is enjoyable as Arlo the assistant but he really is just playing it very straight, Kim Dickens is the love interest, her damaged, strong, and angry character is refreshing to watch she allows the right amount of venerability to come through to give the character empathy.
It’s an ambitious film very much about dialogue and could probably trim off ten minutes or so to help it flow but on the whole very fun enjoyable and cool.
7 and a half out of 10
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