Zig Zag (2002 film)

Zig Zag is a 2002 American drama film directed and written by David S. Goyer (in his directorial debut) and starring John Leguizamo, Wesley Snipes, Oliver Platt, and Natasha Lyonne. It is based on the 1999 novel Zigzag by Landon J. Napoleon.^[3] The film premiered at the 2002 South by Southwest Film Festival.^[4]

Zig Zag
Official DVD cover
Directed by	David S. Goyer
Screenplay by	David S. Goyer
Based on	Zigzag by Landon J. Napoleon
Produced by	Elie Samaha Andrew Stevens
Starring	John Leguizamo Wesley Snipes Oliver Platt Natasha Lyonne
Cinematography	James L. Carter
Edited by	Conrad Smart
Music by	Grant-Lee Phillips
Distributed by	Franchise Pictures
Release dates	March 10, 2002 (2002-03-10) (South by Southwest) July 9, 2002 (2002-07-09) (United States)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3.5 million[1]
Box office	$2,418 (US)[2]

Plot

Dean Singer (John Leguizamo) has terminal cancer, yet is determined to spend his last days taking care of his fifteen-year-old autistic protégé from the Big Brother program, Louis "Zig Zag" Fletcher (Sam Jones III). Dean got Louis a dishwasher job in shamelessly abusive, exploitative Mr. Walters' (Oliver Platt) 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). 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

• John Leguizamo as Dean Singer
• Wesley Snipes as David "Dave" Fletcher
• Oliver Platt as Mr. Walters "The Toad"
• Natasha Lyonne as Jenna the Working Girl
• Luke Goss as Cadillac Tom
• Sam Jones III as Louis "Zig-Zag" Fletcher
• Sherman Augustus as Det. Jonathan Hawke
• Michael Greyeyes as Dale
• Abraham Benrubi as Hector
• Roberta Valderrama as Tawny

Production

The film was shot in Los Angeles, California.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[2]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 44% of 16 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Fine performances elevate the movie above the cliches."^[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[6]