The sad truth is that underneath this pile of nonsense there's a half decent storyline and some intriguing characters. I just wish the film had been made properly instead of messing about with Gilliam's usual brand of weirdness.
If this had been realised as a serious techno thriller set in a conventional future it could have been a decent film.
I do think that perhaps it didn't suit Gilliam's style. Gilliam made wonderful comedy movies in the past, but there is little in the way of joy here. But yet all the overtness of his imagery is still there, so the story is portrayed in a particularly unsubtle way.
Gilliam has handled the same sort of existential themes before in "Time Bandits" and he's handled a dystopian future before in "Brazil". He's also combined the two very strongly in "Twelve Monkeys". But "The Zero Theorem" is so obsessed with its subtext that there's none of the adventure and excitement which made those other films work.
Richard Ayoade's "The Double" has been accused by some of borrowing too much from Gilliam's work. Yet that does a much better job of introducing comedy into a grim scenario and juggling excitement with existential dread. So I'm not sure that Gilliam's brand of weirdness was necessarily the problem. It just seems like Gilliam is now being left behind by younger, more dynamic filmmakers.
Wow, my review is half-written now. Thanks for the inspiration. I'm on Letterboxd if you are interested. :)