February 17, 1998 -- "Zero Effect" is one of the neatest little murder mysteries you will ever see. It is full of movie and murder mystery in-jokes and references. It's central character, an obsessive-compulsive recluse detective is crazier than Jack Nicholson's character in "As Good As it Gets."

Bill Pullman stars as the loony, but brilliant Daryl Zero, a recluse detective who deals with his clients through a middleman, lawyer Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller, an actor-director who directed "Reality Bites").

The relationship between the Zero and his henchman, Arlo, who is trying to lead a normal life, is tense and funny. Just when Arlo is about to relax, he gets a call from Zero to run some errand, the need for which is usually based largely on Zero's paranoid delusions. He finds himself fascinated by Zero's genius, however.

Zero is hired by a Portland, Ore. businessman, Gregory Stark (Ryan O'Neal). When Stark appears on the scene we immediately begin getting references to O'Neal's most popular movie, "Love Story." There are also some pointed similarities between Zero and Arlo and some popular fictional detectives and their sidekicks like Nero Wolfe and Archie and Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Stark is being blackmailed and he wants Zero to find the blackmailer, which Zero does in short order, using is acute powers of observation and razor-sharp deductive logic. Zero, however, isn't satisfied with just finding the blackmailer, he wants to get to the bottom of why the blackmailer is doing this and what Stark is being blackmailed for. Stark gets a lot more than he bargained for when he hires Zero.

Zero, like all great fictional detectives, works by his own rules. His rules don't always correspond to what the client wants, or what the law requires. He is a law unto himself. Pullman is brilliant as the deranged detective Zero. Stiller is perfect as the exasperated, entranced sidekick and Kim Dickens ("Great Expectations") is effective as Zero's love interest. The film was directed by Jake Kasdan, who may be more talented that his father, director Lawrence Kasdan.

This is not a movie for people wanting a conventional murder mystery. There are no car chases, fist fights or gunfights. This is for serious murder mystery fans only, who enjoy a good puzzle and a movie that is decidedly beyond the realm of the ordinary. This film rates an A.

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