''Zig Zag'' is a 2002 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed and written by

David S. Goyer David Samuel Goyer (born December 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for writing the screenplays for several superhero films, including ''Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (film), Nick Fury: Agent ...

(in his directorial debut) and starring

John Leguizamo John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. His prominent film roles include '' Major League'' (1989), ''New Jack City'' (1991), ''White Men Can't Jump'' (1992), ''Passenger 57'' (1992), '' R ...

Oliver Platt Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-born American actor. He is known for his starring roles in many films such as ''Flatliners'' (1990), ''Beethoven'' (1992), ''Indecent Proposal'', ''The Three Musketeers'' (both 1993), ''Executiv ...

, and

Natasha Lyonne Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is known for playing Nicky Nichols on the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she r ...

. It is based on the 1999 novel ''Zigzag'' by Landon J. Napoleon. The film premiered at the 2002

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Film Festival.

Plot

Dean Singer (

) has terminal cancer, yet is determined to spend his last days taking care of his 15-year-old

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

protégé from the Big Brother program, Louis "Zig Zag" Fletcher (

Sam Jones III Samuel L. Jones III (born April 29, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Pete Ross on the first three seasons of the Superman television series ''Smallville'', Willie Worsley in the 2006 film ''Glory Road'', Craig Shilo on '' ...

). Dean got Louis a dishwasher job in shamelessly abusive, exploitative Mr. Walters' (

) restaurant. Louis' dead-beat, neglecting yet abusive dad pushes him for "rent", which he actually uses to repay violent loan-shark Cadillac Tom (

Luke Goss Luke Damon Goss (born 29 September 1968) is an English actor, and drummer of the 1980s band Bros. He has appeared in numerous films including ''Blade II'' (2002) as Jared Nomak, ''One Night with the King'' (2006) as King Xerxes, '' Hellboy II ...

). Zig Zag gets it by stealing from Walters' safe, remembering numbers being his only talent. Singer is determined to return the money, despite excessive risks, with surprising allies.

Cast

Production

Filming

The film was shot in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California.

Reception

Box office

The film was released in one theater and earned $1,649 in its opening weekend. The total US box office gross for ''Zig Zag'' was $2,418.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 44% based on reviews from 16 critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 58% based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{David S. Goyer 2002 films 2002 directorial debut films Films directed by David S. Goyer Films with screenplays by David S. Goyer 2002 drama films American drama films Franchise Pictures films Films based on American novels Films produced by Elie Samaha Films about autism 2000s English-language films 2000s American films