"Zero Effect" (1998) is a comedy/drama starring Bill Pullman, Ben Stiller, Ryan O'Neal, and Kim Dickens. Bill Pullman is Daryl Zero, a combination of Howard Hughes and Sherlock Holmes - an eccentric recluse with amazing deductive powers. Ben Stiller is Steve Arlo, his representative with the clients. The job is taking a toll on Steve's relationship with his girlfriend Jess. A high-powered man (O'Neal) is being blackmailed and, through Steve, hires Daryl Zero to find out who is blackmailing him and also to recover some keys that he lost. He believes the keys have given the blackmailer information he shouldn't have. Darryl works on the case hands-on, though distancing himself from the client, and becomes entangled with a paramedic (Dickens) whom he believes has something to do with the case.
The acting is very good, particularly from Pullman and Stiller, and the script by writer/director Jake Kasdan is good, with some quirky twists. Unfortunately he also has his main character, the brilliant Daryl Zero, make a couple of stupid slips to facilitate the plot. No fair! All in all, "Zero Effect" is an odd film - it's not really a comedy, actually coming off more like a drama, and it's very low-key in its delivery, which is surprising with someone like Stiller in the cast. And it's quite absorbing, not at all a "zero effect."
The acting is very good, particularly from Pullman and Stiller, and the script by writer/director Jake Kasdan is good, with some quirky twists. Unfortunately he also has his main character, the brilliant Daryl Zero, make a couple of stupid slips to facilitate the plot. No fair! All in all, "Zero Effect" is an odd film - it's not really a comedy, actually coming off more like a drama, and it's very low-key in its delivery, which is surprising with someone like Stiller in the cast. And it's quite absorbing, not at all a "zero effect."