Zero Effect
| Zero Effect | |
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theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Jake Kasdan |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Jake Kasdan |
| Starring | |
| Music by | The Greyboy Allstars |
| Cinematography | Bill Pope |
| Edited by | Tara Timpone |
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Production
companies |
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| Distributed by |
Columbia Pictures (United States) Warner Bros. (International) |
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Release date
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Running time
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116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5 million |
| Box office | $2 million (US) |
Zero Effect is a 1998 mystery film written and directed by Jake Kasdan (son of writer-director Lawrence Kasdan). It stars Bill Pullman as "the world's most private detective", Daryl Zero, and Ben Stiller as his assistant Steve Arlo. The plot of the film is loosely based on the Arthur Conan Doyle short story "A Scandal in Bohemia".
The film was shot in Portland, Oregon. It was scored by The Greyboy Allstars. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
Daryl Zero is the world's greatest detective, but is also a socially maladroit misanthrope. Among his quirks is that he never meets or has direct contact with his clients, instead conducting business through his assistant, Steve Arlo. Throughout the movie, Zero provides narration as he reads lines from his proposed autobiography.
Zero and Arlo are hired by Portland area millionaire Gregory Stark. Stark has lost the key to a safe deposit box and is being blackmailed by an unknown person who forces him to follow elaborate instructions to deliver the cash payments. Zero quickly discovers that the blackmailer is Gloria Sullivan, an EMT with a mysterious past. Zero refuses to reveal Gloria's identity to Stark until Zero understands why she is blackmailing Stark. Zero becomes attracted to Gloria, compromising his trademark objectivity.
Stark pressures Arlo to reveal the blackmailer's identity so that he can have that person killed. Arlo must also deal with Zero's somewhat absurd demands on his time, which increasingly interfere with Arlo's relationship with his girlfriend Jess.
Zero eventually discovers that Stark had been obsessed with Gloria's mother following a brief romantic relationship when the two were in college. She later blackmailed Stark with the threat of exposing him as a rapist, so he had her killed. However, she had already given birth to their daughter Gloria, who was discovered and raised by the hitman who killed her mother. Gloria grew up knowing that Stark was behind her mother's murder, and when her adoptive father contracted a terminal illness, she used the information to pay for medical treatment. At the meeting to deliver the final blackmail payment, Stark collapses from a heart attack and Gloria is compelled to save his life. She then flees the country with Zero's assistance.
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Wikipedia