Neid

In ENVY, Ben Stiller plays Tim whos neighbor, Nick(Jack Black) invents an item called "Vapoorize". When you spray it on dog poo, it disappears. After vapoorize becomes a hit, Tim get's envious of Nick.

I'm surprised at the terrible reviews this is getting. I mean, I can't say it was more than 2 and a half out of 4, but it wasn't terrible. It was uneven, somewhat funny, a bit flighty, and occasionally realistic. The whole thing with Christopher Walken's role had nothing to do with the story. Whenever he came on screen, I was disappointed. And although this is occasionally funny, due to the cast, it's not funny enough.

ENVY-- **1/2 outta ****

PG-13: language, brief comic violence, and some sexual/crude humor.

If you don't like a dark comedy, don't even watch this movie!

Lots of people are bashing this movie just because it's takes a certain personality to understand and appreciate this type of humor.

Everything in the movie is slightly exaggerated enough to be funny. It was refreshing not to have to swim through dozens of fart jokes or gay jokes.

Jack Black was so over-dramatic (I think that's just the way he is- Lord bless 'im). Ben Stiller plays the bumbling pent-up family man. Both very good actors. And, I must say, Christopher Walken is so wonderfully weird, it was only natural for him to be in this movie. I would make this a purchase- I think it will be like Zoolander- a cult classic in certain circles.

This could be looked at in many different ways. This movie sucks, its good or its just plain weird. The third one probably explains this movie best. It has strange themes and just has a strange plot. So who else but Christopher Walken would play in this no matter how bad, average or even how good it might be.

The acting was what you would expect especially out of Ben Stiller. Jack Black I have always liked so you know what you will get out of him but this is not bad. Christopher Walken is always off the wall. He is always enjoyable to watch no matter how bad the movie is. Comedy wise it is somewhat funny. This of course meaning that it does have its moments (though very few) but can get a little over top here and there which makes me feel like the movie is just desperate for laughs but of course not in a good way.

The directing was average as well. Barry Levinson is a slightly overrated director and really did not do a good job here. This movie seemed that it had a lot more potential and he did not do much to reach it. Just very average and did not seem like a lot of effort was put into making this film.

The writing is the key to a good comedy. Obviously that means the writing here failed. At best it is below average. Considering it does have its moments it was not too horrible. That is never a good thing to say about a movie though.

If not for Christopher Walken and it stupid ridiculous ending I would have given it a lower rating. He is always quite a character in his movies. Stil this is just a whacked out strange movie with strange characters that really don't go anywhere. Not completely horrible but I would not really recommend it though because it is a very forgettable movie.

When I first heard about a movie with Ben Stiller and Jack Black, yeah, I got my hopes up. I love these guys. Then I'd heard it started getting terrible reviews and my hopes sank. I think this is a necessary step to enjoying the movie. Because whoever gives it a negative review is someone who was clearly expecting a different movie, and rather than enjoy what they got, they complained about what they didn't. The comedy is SUPER dead-pan. If you're expecting Ben Stiller out of 'Something about Mary' or Jack Black out of 'Tenacious D', stop. Jack Black, by Jack Black standards, is in a coma in this movie. While some people want to see him scream and yell and all that (which is great), I found it just as funny that he was being 3/4's serious.

Quite unexpectedly, Christopher Walken made this movie. His personality was spot-on. This movie quite reminded me of another movie, which I can't quite remember unfortunately, but in some ways it also reminded me of Office Space. The dry, normal guy humor. "What would you do if you had a million dollars?" "Two chicks at the same time." And in some ways it reminds me of another recent Ben Stiller movie, Starsky and Hutch. It took me awhile to get into Starsky, because I thought it was meant to be a parody. Once I realised it was "serious" I had a lot more fun with it. And I laughed as much as Starsky, if not more, in Envy.

Saw it in May 04 when it first came out (yes in an empty theater) and thought it was quietly funny with a moral lesson. Not for everyone but if you like Stiler, Black or Walken, see the movie and judge for yourself. If you are a critic and you are looking for art, forget it. If you are looking for a rainy night rental movie that you can eat some cheap popcorn and diet coke to, then this is a movie you can enjoy. You don't have to think too hard to enjoy the comedy and the moral is easy to pick up on. It won't win any awards nor go down in cinema history as a gem but it's worth the price of the rent and don't forget to rewind. I give it 7 out of 10 Frogs.