Chapter Zero

Putting aside the absurdity of the scenario that a writer would abandon his craft based on a single rejection for his first major work, Chapter Zero ultimately reveals itself as a pleasant enough -- though ultimately trivial -- little comedy.

Dylan Walsh is Adam, a typical Angeleno hack who makes a living ghost-writing other people's works for his sultry yet evil boss Cassandra (Penelope Ann Miller). His girlfriend Jane (Laurel Holloman) is supportive but a little distant -- and she even gets a job at Hooters when things turn south. But Adam rebounds and decides to write a second book about how awful his life is -- and this one's a hit, placing him into all sorts of predicaments both comic and otherwise.

Director Aaron Mendelsohn is best known for having written six films: Five of them are Air Bud movies, one is this. Zero is obviously drawn from some level of personal struggle with Hollywood, and it's clearly a labor love. Walsh is fine, but Miller and Holloman's characters both act too much alike and look similarly, too. But Mendelsohn's uneven script is the biggest problem here -- it wanders aimlessly during the second act and rises above the surface to crack jokes far too seldomly.