Welcome back to another installment of Review Stew! This week we have a movie that is loosely based on the short story “A Scandal in Bohemia”. If that sounds familiar at all to you, that’s because “A Scandal in Bohemia” is the first short story from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to feature Sherlock Holmes. With that in mind, lets get right to it and dive into…Zero Effect (1998).
Title: Zero Effect
Director: Jake Kasdan
Released: January 30, 1998 (United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes
Watched via: Kanopy
Daryl Zero (Bill Pullman) has a reputation of being the world’s greatest private detective. While he might be the greatest detective, he’s always a bit of an oddball. He refuses to ever meet his clients or have any direct communication with them. For that, Zero relies on his overworked assistant, Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller).
Gregory Stark (Ryan O’Neal) is a wealthy Portland-based businessman who has lost his key to his safe deposit box and claims to be a victim of blackmail. Stark hires Zero to take the case and it doesn’t take long before Zero has determined who the blackmailer is.
An EMT by the name of Gloria Sullivan (Kim Dickens) falls for the trap set by Zero. However, the motivation behind her intent is unclear. While Zero is determined to figure out the “why”, Arlo is being pressured by Stark to give up the blackmailer so he can have them killed.
Something isn’t quite adding up and the world’s greatest detective isn’t about to just collect payment and be on his way.
Zero Effect (1998) works solely because of Bill Pullman. He is fantastic as Daryl Zero and turns in a performance that might just be my favorite Pullman performance. It would have been easy to turn this character into an over-the-top caricature but Pullman is able to provide the quirkiness, intelligence, and humor offered by Zero and combine it in a way that feels genuine and believable. In fact, the cast overall was great in their respective roles.
Where Zero Effect (1998) sort of loses some steam is in the writing. Yes, it is a mystery movie and there are mystery elements in place. Unfortunately, there are also storylines that seem to just pad out the runtime and never get explored or serve a larger purpose. For example, Arlo and his girlfriend, we see that him working for Zero is taking a toll on his personal life. But that never really goes anywhere to justify it being as big a plot point as its portrayed.
There is also very little in the way of genuine suspense. Early on, the story reveals its cards and doesn’t ever make an attempt to lead you astray.
But that isn’t to say that this isn’t a fun watch. Again, thanks to the performance delivered by Bill Pullman, Zero Effect (1998) is absolutely deserving of at least one viewing.
Well, now it’s your turn. If you’ve seen Zero Effect (1998), I want to hear your thoughts on it!
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