Search - Zero Effect on DVD

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

It's always interesting to look up box office numbers for movies, especially movies you've never heard of but happen to catch and they turn out to be pretty good.

Detroit native Jake Kasdan is responsible for one of the finest comedies ever made, "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." I point this out for two reasons: one, because everyone in the world should see Walk Hard, and two, to illustrate the caliber of film Kasdan is capable of.

(Kasdan also directed five of the 18 episodes of "Freaks and Geeks," which ain't nothin' to sneeze at neither.)

Kasdan's first film, "Zero Effect" from 1998, features Ben Stiller and Bill Pullman as a pair of private investigators - Daryl Zero (Pullman) is an inscrutable genius with a knack for observation and intuition; Steve Arlo (Stiller) is his beleaguered assistant who is having an increasingly-difficult time dealing with Zero's quirky approach to the job.

They're hired by business tycoon Gregory Stark (the late Ryan O'Neal) who has lost the key to his safe deposit box, and has subsequently been receiving threats of blackmail from an unknown party. He hires Zero and Arlo to find the missing key and the blackmailer, but Zero gets distracted by Gloria, a woman at Stark's gym.

So, box office: the film's budget was $5M, but only pulled in $400k its first weekend. I don't know how many screens it played on but I admit I'd never even heard of the film until recently.

The film is pretty good for a first-time writer/director. The script is clever, if not outright funny, but that's okay, it's got a nice Sneakers (1992, Robert Redford) vibe only without all the tech. The film also doesn't need to be quite as long as it is - even an hour 55 feels long when the pace is a little slow.

But it's a good movie, worth watching if you're in the mood for something light. Check it out if you can.

Grade: straight B