History Film / ZeroEffect

A 1998 mystery-comedy film directed by written and directed by Jake Kasdan (son of Creator/LawrenceKasdan), starring Creator/BillPullman and Creator/BenStiller.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

%%* BadassBookworm

* GeniusSlob: Darryl Zero dresses like a vagrant, has a weird diet & a messy apartment.

Pretty obviously based on the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia", down to specific traits that Zero and Holmes share and the eventual resolution of the plot -- almost everything in the film has a direct Holmes parallel -- although where it doesn't swipe from Holmes, it's doing a Creator/RaymondChandler riff. It's arguably one of the best Holmes adaptations out there, even if Pullman's a bit bland for the role. A hidden gem CultClassic, and highly recommended for lovers of the mystery genre.

[[Creator/DefectiveDetective Daryl Zero]] (Pullman), a brilliant but reclusive private eye, traditionally works from afar with assistant [[TheWatson Steve Arlo]] (Stiller) as his representative in the field. Socially awkward and inept but extraordinarily confident in his deductive abilities, Zero keeps himself locked in his apartment where he composes [[DreadfulMusician awful songs on his guitar]] and subsists on a diet of [[TrademarkFavoriteFood tuna, Tab, pretzels, Campbell's soup]], and amphetamines. Zero and Arlo are retained by CorruptCorporateExecutive Gregory Stark (Ryan O'Neal) to investigate who is blackmailing him and stole his keys. Immediately, Zero is thrown into a quirky world of seduction, intrigue, comedy and double-crosses.

%%* ArcWords: Zero's motto "Passion is the enemy of precision."
%%* AssholeVictim: Stark.

* BlackmailBackfire: A running sub-plot throughout the movie is Stark wanting to set one of these up (by arming himself and shooting the blackmailer if he ever meets him face-to-face) because the situation is making him incredibly paranoid and skittish. Arlo manages to talk him out of it once, the investigation gets a fire put under it because of this, and finally it doesn't happens [[spoiler: because Stark ends up having a heart attack, forcing the blackmailer (his estranged paramedic daughter) to save his life]].
* CaptainsLog / PrivateEyeMonologue: Seeing as how the narration is from Zero's memoirs but used in context. Think Series/BurnNotice.
%%* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Arlo

%%* GoodIsNotNice

%%* HackerCave - the final scene

%%* MouthOfSauron: As Zero's representaive Arlo is a good guy example of this trope.

%%* SherlockHomage: Zero himself.

* TheWatson: Arlo receives the exposition, though Darryl also explains his tactics to his memoir.

%%* DefectiveDetective

%%* MyHeroZero

%%* TheWatson

1998 feature film starring Bill Pulman as DefectiveDetective Daryl Zero and Creator/BenStiller as TheWatson Steve Arlo.

Daryl Zero, a brilliant but reclusive private eye, traditionally works from afar with assistant Steve Arlo as his representative in the field. Socially awkward and inept but extraordinarily confident in his deductive abilities, Zero keeps himself locked in his apartment where he composes [[DreadfulMusician awful songs on his guitar]] and subsists on a diet of [[TrademarkFavoriteFood tuna, Tab, pretzels, Campbell's soup]], and amphetamines. Zero and Arlo are retained by CorruptCorporateExecutive Gregory Stark to investigate who is blackmailing him and stole his keys. Immediately, Zero is thrown into a quirky world of seduction, intrigue, comedy and double-crosses.

Pretty obviously based on the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "A Scandal In Bohemia", down to specific traits that Zero and Holmes share and the eventual resolution of the plot - almost everything in the film has a direct Holmes parallel - although where it doesn't swipe from Holmes, it's doing a Raymond Chandler riff. It's arguably one of the best Holmes adaptations out there, even if Pullman's a bit bland for the role. A hidden gem CultClassic, and highly recommended for lovers of the mystery genre.

Pretty obviously based on the SherlockHolmes story A Scandal In Bohemia, down to specific traits that Zero and Holmes share and the eventual resolution of the plot - almost everything in the film has a direct Holmes parallel - although where it doesn't swipe from Holmes, it's doing a Raymond Chandler riff. It's arguably one of the best Holmes adaptations out there, even if Pullman's a bit bland for the role. A hidden gem CultClassic, and highly recommended for lovers of the mystery genre.

* ArcWords: Zero's motto "Passion is the enemy of precision."
* AssholeVictim: Stark.
* BadassBookworm

* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Arlo
* DefectiveDetective

* GoodIsNotNice
* GPSEvidence
* HackerCave - the final scene

* HyperAwareness

* MouthOfSauron: As Zero's representaive Arlo is a good guy example of this trope.
* MyHeroZero

* SherlockHomage: Zero himself.
* SherlockScan
* TheyHaveTheScent
* TheWatson
* TitleDrop: [[spoiler:"And though I never would've anticipated it, in the end she did for me what I have done for so many: help solve a problem, first by observation, then by careful intervention... in other words, the Zero Effect."]]

* BlackmailBackfire: A running sub-plot though out the movie is Stark wanting to set one of these up (by arming himself and shooting the blackmailer if he ever meets him face-to-face) because the situation is making him incredibly paranoid and skittish. Arlo manages to talk him out of it once, the investigation gets a fire put under it because of this, and finally it doesn't happens [[spoiler: because Stark ends up having a heart attack, forcing the blackmailer (his estranged paramedic daughter) to save his life]].

* CaptainsLog/PrivateEyeMonologue: Seeing as how the narration is from Zero's memoirs but used in context. Think Series/BurnNotice.

1998 feature film starring Bill Pulman as DefectiveDetective Daryl Zero and BenStiller as TheWatson Steve Arlo.

* TheWatson