Day Zero

If the abysmal reception so far for films about the war in Iraq is any indication, “Day Zero,” which imagines a time in the near future when the war has widened, is the last thing movie audiences will want to consume. In this fantasy of the day after tomorrow, coordinated suicide bombings stretch from Ankara to Cairo. An unspecified act of terrorism has wreaked havoc in Los Angeles, and the draft has just been reinstated.
The unexpected call to serve disrupts the lives of three New York friends: a spoiled yuppie, a crazy writer and a macho hothead. Although these alleged pals share no similarities of background or common interests, the actors playing them at least sustain the illusion that their characters have been friends for years. In real life they would very likely have nothing to do with one another.
The most far-fetched of the three, Aaron Feller (Elijah Wood), is an emotionally unstable runaway who published a successful, if not wholly original, novel. For the last seven years this quivering, virginal man-child with wide frightened eyes has been seeing a therapist (Ally Sheedy) who finds him so boring she studies crossword puzzles while he bleats his complaints.
To bolster his shaky sense of manhood, Aaron purchases a Bowflex exercise machine and, in a desperate lunge at masculinity, patronizes a streetwalker. Eventually he shaves his head, acquires tattoos and barks at himself in a mirror like a would-be Travis Bickle. The character is, in a word, ludicrous.
The film’s resident dove, George Rifkin (Chris Klein), is a lawyer who begs his wealthy father to use his friendship with a senator to keep him out of the Army. When the request is denied, he contemplates chopping off a finger. In a fit of frustration George visits a gay bar where he is beaten up after hurling abuse at men whose declared homosexuality exempts them from service. George’s one redeeming characteristic is his steady devotion to his wife, Molly (Ginnifer Goodwin), a five-year cancer survivor.
The designated hawk of “Day Zero,” Dixon (Jon Bernthal), is a cabdriver and outspoken patriot who loves a good fight. Dixon falls in love with Patricia (Elisabeth Moss), a sociology student, but neglects to tell her he has been drafted until the very last minute. Early in the movie he and George come to blows at a party while arguing the pros and cons of the war, but all seems to have been forgiven in their next scene together.
The solemn tone of “Day Zero,” directed by Bryan Gunnar Cole from a screenplay by Rob Malkani, indicates that the movie, which is too cautious to take political sides, has an inflated idea of its own importance. Its view of the near future may be vaguely plausible and its performances persuasive, but its formulaic construction, internal inconsistencies and fuzzy ending undermine its integrity. It has nothing to say about the big issues — manhood, war and friendship — that hasn’t been explored with more depth and honesty in a hundred other movies.
“Day Zero” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has sexual situations and some profanity.
Da The New York Times, 18 gennaio 2008