Review of Zero Effect

An impressive debut effort from writer/director Jake Kasdan, Zero Effect is worthy of applause and deserves to be seen by a larger audience than it will ever have. Kasdan takes familiar arch-types to anchor this side-winder of a story and adds deft touches of nuerosis, complexes, and charcter quirks, played out marvelously by the entire leading cast. Kasdan paints with percision; you won't find many broad strokes here in his unique characterizations. Much of this is top-notch writing, though the story loses steam at a few points. A more taut, confident style of directing could easily have cleaned this up, but by and large this is a very strong and engaging independent film. Bill Pullman turns in a sublimely original and attention-grabbing performance here, and Stiller is about as good as I've seen him as well. Definately give it a watch.