Zero Effect

An OK mystery. Parts of the instrumental score from the film are used here and there.

Pacing a tad sluggish; at about 39 minutes it definitely could have come in at under a half hour and still have room for commercials. Curiously, one external reviewer found the *film* too slow and this pilot to be the better of the two!

I like Alan Cummings in some things - and as host of PBS Mystery! - but doesn't work for Daryl Zero. I don't think it's just that Bill Pullman embodied the character perfectly, but that Cummings just isn't right somehow. It didn't help that the script isn't at the level as the film either. David Julian Hirsh doesn't have a lot to do as Jeff Winslow, the rough equivalent of the film's Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller).

Still, as a huge fan of the movie, I'm glad to have had a chance to see the attempt at adapting it for television.