I was invited by Chronological Snobbery to add a post to his week long coverage of Zero Effect’s ten year anniversary.
It’s a great idea, and I’m honored to be included. I had seen Zero Effect on video some ten years ago as I worked in a video store back in those days and videos were both easy to come by and delightfully free. I remember liking the film and when asked to participate in Chronological Snobbery’s coverage I thought it would be interesting to watch it again some ten years later and see how it held up.
Several things really stand out in watching this film again, some of them having to do directly with the movie and some of them not. The first and least movie related is the fact that I actually had difficulty concentrating on the film because my brain was filling up with so many memories of the time in my life when I had last watched this film. I was young (blissfully young!), and overall much happier, if only because I was in art school and enjoying the freedom and excitement of academia in general. It was before credit card debt, and nine to nine jobs, and all that crap that comes with ‘the real world’. Of course I paint the picture of happiness now, but then of course I could not see the forest for the trees and was often miserable. Miserable I wasn’t dating, miserable that I never seemed to have enough money, miserable because I wanted to move forward with my life. What an idiot. Hindsight is always 20/20 they say. Anyway, I must confess that these thoughts partially overshadowed the movie watching experience, and made it difficult for me to concentrate as much as I should have liked.
As for the movie itself, it held up pretty well, in that the story was still interesting and engaging and the “mystery” aspect was better than many you see these days with all their forced twists and turns. I was struck immediately with the memory of how much I used to like Ben Stiller, and he is good here, good like he was before he totally oversaturated the market with himself and all his neurotic over the top performances. I really like him here as the straight man.
Unfortunately, almost immediately, I also remember how much I dislike Bill Pullman in general, and ten years has made me like him even less. It’s not that he turns in a bad performance as much as the fact that I just don’t like the guy. I can’t help but think how much better the movie could have been with a different Daryl Zero. What about a young Philip Seymour Hoffman?
This issue with Bill Pullman becomes an even larger problem in that I found romantic relationship to be the least interesting aspect of the film, which is too bad. I found Kim Dickens an appealing and unique leading lady (if in looks alone) and the romance is well worked into the film, it’s integral to the plot and to the development of the Zero character, but I was pretty bored with it, there was no chemistry between these two leads, and I found myself much more interested in the idea of such a brilliant detective and how he works, but even that ends up being a let down, both because Pullman is so unlikeable to me, and also because for all his “crazy genius neurosis” he pretty easily assimilates as evidenced in his relationship with Dickens character. It seems like a lot of smoke and no fire in the end.
Zero Effect was made into television show in 2002, which I never saw, actually it’s unclear from IMDB if ANYONE has seen it as it claims NBC never picked it up. A shame, as it starred Alan Cummings, who in my mind would be a far superior Daryl Zero, as well as Krista Allen from HBO’s Unscripted. The Zero Effect is actually a great idea for a series as the mystery element is an interesting hook for a weekly show and the Zero character could be very well developed and explored more throughly in a weekly show than in a brief two hour film.
The Good: The concept, the mystery, the script, and Ben Stiller’s performance.
The Bad: The romance aspect of the film and the chemistry between Pullman and Dickens.
The Ugly: Bill Pullman, I just don’t like anything about the guy.
In the end, I find that I had previously given Zero Effect 3 stars in my netflix ratings, and after re-viewing it I decide to let the rating stand. I know I had a lot of complaints, but the interesting story and well written script keep it above the 2 star mark.
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Man, I just posted a response about this over at The Stallion and I am too lazy to re-type it, so you’ll have to head over there to see what I think.
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I read it over there. Thanks.
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I can see the appeal of someone like Hoffman in this role, but I actually felt like Pullman pulled it off a lot better than I would have expected from him.
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Bill Pullman made the whole part work. Ten years ago when I first saw it I was publishing a newspaper. I felt like Pullman brought the part to life as he fit so closely the description of so many meth-heads that we found in the headlines. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the last person I’d pick for a part like this.
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10 years ago this movie was my gold standard, important movie to show to girls and see how they would react. I normally don’t like Pullman either but here I though he gave a brilliant performance. The part in the diner in particular where he wants to talk about his parents but then pulls back. The pain is so evident and his eyes. I just showed it to my signifigant other just the other day after being a couple for 3 years. Not sure if how much she “got it” or appreciated it but for me I found it even more meaningful. I could and can very much relate to the Zero character. I think the movies strength is what is between the lines especially in the love story element. In fact I just recently listed that part as one of my all time fav romantic plotlines. (pullman is great here too…his discomfort is palpable around her) To me it’s a mystery and movie and all that but there’s another element. It’s also saying alot about obsession… pain…and human connection…I get that.
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I find it so strange (but in a good way) that so many strangers find this random post and feel compelled to comment. It’s great, even when people are disagreeing with me. I love some honest (no-name calling or getting insanely angry) disagreement – and everyone above has made compelling personal cases.
The other great thing about the comments here, are that I feel all the people who commented, came from a similar place in thinking and reviewing this movie as I did, which is to say, a very personal one.
I admit freely that my dislike of Pullman is the main reason for my dislike of the film, and people, whether they like him or not seem to think he really pulled it off here. I stand by my personal opinion that Pullman ruins the potential of the Zero character for me and that Hoffman would have been amazing, as would Alan Cummings (the TV cast version) and as I’ve thought about it more, Viggo Mortensen would have been an excellent cast as well.
All these actors might have saved (for me) a great concept, but alas we cannot go back in time…or can we…? My boyfriend is working on the tv pilot for Cupid – a re-working of television’s short-lived Cupid of the late 1990’s. I was skeptical at first as Jeremy Piven was the then star (and a worthy one at that) but then I found that Bobby Cannavale (LOVE), Amanda Peet (highly underrated in my opinion – see her wonderful witty Studio 60 performance in particular), and the excellent and underused Sarah Paulson have been cast for the new series…which is all just excellent and dare I say – far superior – to the original. Let’s hope it takes off…and who knows, maybe it could serve to revitalize other shows like Zero Effect (the tv show) that never quite got off the ground?
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Hindsight is 20/20, or as Opus said in Bloom County, “Some of us live in perpetual 20/20 chaos”.
Zero Effect is one of my favorite movies, one that has always stuck with me. I like Bill Pullman, but I’ll spot you your dislike of him if you’ll spot me my irrational dislike of Amanda Peet. I think Alan Cumming would have been too cute by half for the role, but maybe I should leave it at that because if you have to forgive my dislike of Alan Cumming, I’ll have to forgive your dislike of Saul Rubinek (or whomever), and I don’t have all day on this.
I give Zero Effect five stars, not because it’s perfect, but because sometimes it’s the imperfections we love the most.
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miles_underground: Great comment. I WILL spot you your irrational dislike of Amanda Peet – especially because until Studio 60 I was pretty much on the fence with her – but she won me over. You may be right about Alan Cumming in the role as well, I tend to like him, but when I think it over there are plenty of performances of his that I really do not enjoy (Circle of Friends – such a creepy kind of caricature almost) so he’s hit and miss for me (I stand by the Viggo Mortensen and Hoffman casting though).
But you’re right…we could go on forever this way.
I’m glad that Zero Effect lives on for you as a great film – how do you feel about the idea of it happening as a tv show? Is it something you’d even be interested in seeing or is it more like – things that are already excellent are best left alone…?
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