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But what about the genius in movies? In the superior Good Will Hunting, the genius is also an outsider, but only in that he cannot teach us about what is important. We must teach him. Though brilliant, he is socially retarded and afraid of human emotion. But in the end, how different is he from the idiot? In terms of cinematic philosophies, not much. These misfits, either dumb or smart, become coddled cuties, pets who make us feel good about ourselves for the times we averted our eyes from retarded people on the bus or felt jealous of those more intellectual than us. It's good to be dumb. It's alienating to be smart. Like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who wrote the charming Good Will Hunting at young ages, Jake Kasdan (the 22-year-old son of filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan) attempts to portray the emotional complexities of a genius with his film Zero Effect. But Kasdan proves to be no Damon or Affleck. This messy, overly cool and often badly written film gets nowhere near the humble strength of Good Will. Bill Pullman stars as Daryl Zero, a reclusive genius who has spent his life privately honing the masterful skills of "the two obs: objectivity and observation." He is a man who has no personal connections to others, no foolish passions and, like every true genius (though Albert Einstein was said to be quite charming), no social skills. He is the most brilliant private detective, yet he cannot work with people in a businesslike manner, and he has no idea how to fill out a tax form. Because of his neurotic habits, Zero must have one human contact in order to conduct business: his front man Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller), a young lawyer who has aided Zero in some of the world's most perplexing criminal cases. Their latest case involves Gregory Stark (Ryan O'Neal), a Portland timber tycoon sweating out a career-threatening blackmail. The whats and whys of Stark's blackmail are unknown to both Zero and Arlo, which makes the relatively simple case more intriguing to Zero. But when a woman enters the picture, his concentration is interrupted. In the form of studly yet girlish paramedic Gloria Sullivan (Kim Dickens), this woman comes along to do what Rae Dawn Chong did in Quest for Fire: provide a teacher of the heart. She reveals to the viewers and Zero that experience is necessary in life (she skydives), and that love can exist between two people. Zero must endure the nerve-racking unraveling of his dispassionate nature, which he thinks can only lead to the downfall of his perfection. As Kasdan so eloquently puts it in his press information, Zero "is really good at some things and really bad at others." This Gumpism exemplifies the picture as a whole: youthfully stupid yet potentially endearing. The picture is tedious, unevenly paced and much too self-conscious about how quirky it is. Still, it's not abominable. The film has an amiable quality and a few choice scenes that, thanks to the actors, are quite amusing. Pullman and Stiller--who are not getting raves for their performances--do as much as they can with such shoddy material. Pullman, introduced as a horrific songwriter, a drug fiend and a guzzler of Tab (Tab is apparently funny like Spam is funny), eventually grows on you when he is allowed to calm down and be Bill Pullman. He's good in comic roles, particularly romantic comedies, and he has both a cross-eyed handsomeness and a repressed salaciousness, giving him an edge that is, regrettably, not used enough in films. Stiller is similarly entertaining, and his humorous quality of exasperated normalcy gives some overly cutesy scenes a dash of intelligence. But like the Forrest Gumps and Sling Blades of filmdom, Kasdan's picture just isn't very smart. You don't have to be a genius to make a movie about a genius, but it helps to be at least competent. After all, stupid is as stupid does. |
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