38 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
38 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
jake kasdan , son of one of the best screenwriters around , breaks into filmmaking by writing and directing this hard-to-categorize detective story : part mystery , part comedy , part character study and part romance .
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for the most part , kasdan manages to combine the genres successfully and create a captivating film .
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daryl zero ( bill pullman ) is a modern day sherlock holmes .
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the parallel is present down to his love of music ( though zero plays the guitar rather than the violin ) , and his addiction to drugs ( amphetamines , rather than morphine ) .
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he even titles his cases with such sherlockian epigrams as the case of the mismatched shoelaces , the case about the man who lied about his age , or the case of the hired gun who made way way too many mistakes .
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however zero's observance of the fine art of detachment , though it makes him a brilliant private investigator , makes him somewhat of a self-imposed outcast in society .
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he could do nothing without the legwork of his trusty assistant dr . watson , i mean steve arlo ( ben stiller ) .
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arlo is not happy with his job .
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he is thrilled to be around zero's brilliance , but his bizarre behavior , and strange requests , are frustrating to the former lawyer .
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and they're even more so to his girlfriend , jess ( angela featherstone ) , who is fed up that her boyfriend's boss means more to arlo than her .
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this is the situation when a new case comes knocking .
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gregory stark ( ryan o'neill ) hires zero to find his lost keys .
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it seems that he kept a safety deposit box key on the ring , and the box apparently contains some incriminating evidence .
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now , stark is being blackmailed , and needs to reclaim his key before the nightmare can end .
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to solve this case , zero reluctantly crawls out of his shell .
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however , this is when he is vulnerable . . . and
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this time he falls for charms of a wily paramedic , gloria sullivan ( kim dickens ) , who may be involved in the blackmail scheme .
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for the first time , zero has to question his own objectivity , as he finds his client less and less sympathetic .
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zero effect is weakest in its obviously " wacky " scenes depicting daryl zero's odd behavior .
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such scenes might be appropriate in an out-and-out satire , making zero an ace ventura-ish character .
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however , there's a much meatier movie in here . . . it just takes a while to get out .
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that's not to say that there's not a place for humor in this film .
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in fact , some of the best scenes are ben stiller's wonderfully underplayed comic moments of absolute disgust and frustration with his employer .
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however , the over-the-top scenes never quite gel with the rest of the film , and they aren't funny enough to stand on their own .
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once the investigation is underway , however , zero's brilliance really begins to shine .
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his lightning quick inferences are as fascinating as many of sherlock's own .
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as the mystery begins to unfold , zero's deductions lead the plot in interesting directions , but never lose the viewer .
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zero effect works well during its romantic scenes as well .
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zero's relationship with gloria is low-key , but it hits all the right notes .
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however , we are always kept distant from gloria's character .
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she's given plenty of development , but we never understand what she is thinking .
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perhaps that may be intentional : to place the audience in zero's zone of detachment .
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but , on the whole , it is frustrating .
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bill pullman , when he's not spacing out , creates a vibrant character in daryl zero .
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there's one moment when zero briefly connects to the world which he has managed to detach from for many years , and it is shockingly moving . . . expressing a seriousness that heretofore was unassociated with the character , but one which fits in well .
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and , although it is sometimes hard to take a detective called " zero " seriously , it is at this moment that the viewer understands the meaning behind the name .
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although zero effect is a bit awkward in places , it is a strong debut for kasdan , and shows great promise .
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