Pluskylang Great Film overall

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

st-shot "World's greatest detective" Daryl Arlo has a lot of quirks and rules that make him one of the more unique entries in the offbeat private eye world. With a methodology that demands he keep his distance the raspy voiced, head tilted Zero narrates like a philosophical zombie breaking his own rules along the way. It is a tiresome listen, featuring listless performances, contrived situations and poor pacing that will you have you yawning midway.Zero is hired by wealthy Greg Stark to find out who is blackmailing him. Sparks glosses over possibility and motive forcing Zero and faithful assistant Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller) to dig deeper follow a different tack to get answers. But wouldn't you know it a dame (Kim Dickens) greases up the works for the focused Zero as he ignores one of his hip Holmes axioms "passion is the enemy of precision. Still Zero pulls himself together to tie ends up, but he will never be the same.Listening to Pullman drone on is like listening to chalkboard screeching as he listlessly deduces interminably making it hard to believe he could feel passionate about anything. Stiller's moaning and groaning flunky fares little better especially when going seriously dead pan after some spineless whining. Dickens and O'Neal also chip in medical examiner performances but when was Ryan anything else but flat. Zach Kasdan's direction follow's suit with lackluster composition and sluggish scenes (the gym in particular) that fail to resonate as Kasdan waits for Pullman to gather his off beat approach. If I go on about the six minute phone conversation climax it would be piling on. Suffice to say the title sums Zero Effect succinctly.

jmatrixrenegade This is a nifty little character study, character play, if you like.The overall plot is simple enough: a recluse is great detective, and is hired to find out two things: where a set of keys is and who is blackmailing someone. Ben Stiller plays his public face, downplaying his usual uncomfortable shtick some here.Bill Pullman plays Daryl Zero, the detective, and does so as he often does in his character roles -- very well. And, Kim Pickens -- very good in a piquant role -- also has an important part of the plot, particularly as some one Zero falls in love with. Ryan O'Neal has a small part, which he does fine enough, as the client.The movie is laid back and some might be turned off by that, since it takes it time and doesn't try to do too much. But, to me, given I liked the characters and all, it works for me. Nice ending too.

mikeg994 Frankly I loved this movie, which is kind of an update of the classic eccentric genius, Sherlock Holmes. Bill Pullman plays a nerdy bachelor (Darrel Zero) who is "The greatest private eye in the world" and Ben Stiller is his somewhat put upon assistant. Like Holmes, Zero has uncanny investigative skills, and is given to pithy maxims and asides regarding how he does his work. Ryan O'Neal plays an unlikeable tycoon (Stark) with a secret or two, and who hires Zero to help him out with his problem, which revolves around the loss of a safe deposit box key and blackmail. The rest of the story is an entertaining series of plot twists and turns. The gentle and less than heavy handed humor mixes well with the inevitable skullduggery that ensues. The ending is such that you rather hope for a sequel, which unfortunately never materialized. An under-appreciated gem.

dataconflossmoor The cast in this movie is well thought out!! Bill Pullman plays Detective Daryl Zero, and he is a consortium of unorthodox emotions!! Your initial perception of him being one whereby he is an amphetamine freak, who chants like a castrated country rock singer, and drinks 68 cans of Tab in a single day!! Concocting irrational conclusions for everything is Daryl Zero's favorite hobby, and, all of his ersatz proclivities, which unalterably require a necessary detachment, are peculiar enough to put him in either Belvue or Believe it or Not!! He can astutely characterize a white collar criminal, and speak six different languages, yet, he is incapable of filling out a tax form!! With regard to something or someone being hazardous, Daryl Zero should come with a personalized warning label which reads: Compared to this guy, arsenic seems like an innocuous and palatable beverage!!The movie starts off with Gregory Stark, (Ryan O'Neal) who is the anonymously wealthy guy. Stark has now become the aggrieved recipient of blackmail!! Steve Arlo, (Ben Stiller) plays Detective Zero's business manager, Steve (Ben Stiller) manufactures a mystique about Detective Zero through a bastardized affidavit containing a bevy of counter culture mannerisms!! Arlo (Ben Stiller) presents a cogent case to Gregory Stark (Ryan O'Neal) that Daryl Zero's doggerel of accomplishments consists of numerous radical approaches and techniques which serve as a means of being the most effective method to "cracking the case"!! Desperate and annoyed by pecuniary depletion from a petty (yet stinging) series of blackmail tactics,Gregory Stark (Ryan O'Neal) is ready to give way to the unconventional!!! Consummation of this deal opens up the floodgates for an onslaught of nuances to surface which everyone in the movie becomes besieged with.. Daryl Zero's prescience is profound in his ability at pinpointing the perpetrator to this blackmail crime!! This film provides a precarious pontification to many different ideological premises for all parties concerned!! More importantly, it should be established that the trivial details and innate intricacies of everyone's sordid human nature, are far more significant to the plot of this movie, than the overall complications which pertain to this film's resonating end results!! The two OB's; observation and objectivity, guide Detective Zero in the direction of satiating his desires to resolve everything... This acute homogenization of deductive logic is what is referred to in this film as the "Zero Effect"!!This movie is loaded with talent, the writing is particularly well thought out, and the innovative genre to this film makes it intellectually gratifying to watch!!! All is well, but ends well, however, it is not manifested in the proverbially neon accented format that people are accustomed to when viewing a film with a happy ending.. Everyone's aggravated afflictions are related to their environment, and, Detective Zero's concluding jeremiad, which establishes a mandatory closure on the whole blackmail issue, winds up getting categorized accordingly!! That being said, let's put it behind us, it's over, so why not just go sky diving, or attend someone's funeral or something!! Extremely well made film. It is Crazy with a capital "C". I am very glad that I saw it!!!