Envy
Envy | |
| Rated: | None |
| Director: | Barry Levinson |
| Cast: | Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Rachel Weisz, Amy Poehler, Christopher Walken |
| Screen Writer: | Barry Levinson |
| Release Date: | 2004 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
Two guys work at 3M. Portly dreamer Nick (an irritatingly Jack Black-ish Jack Black) gets an idea for an aerosol feces vanisher called Vapoorize. His pal Tim (a somnolent, unfunny Ben Stiller) poo-poos the idea, but it makes Nick a billion, causing Tim to become . . . envious. As there's only an escalation of idiotic incident to replace any story development--a congressional bid by Nick's dippy wife, a horse killed, buried, and unearthed by feckless Tim, some dumb homo Eye-talian riffs--all eyes turn to crap-film pinch hitter Christopher Walken. Playing a weird, monologue-spouting bum named J-Man, he gives his weird all to rescue Envy from comedy purgatory, but he's only one man. Director Barry Levinson's kitchen-sink approach--purposely stilted '60s sitcom bits, semi-Tim Burton fabulism, Danny DeVito-esque dark-comedy overplay--suggests a hope that sheer style overkill might pummel laughs out of this vaporously moribund material. It doesn't.