Envy DVD > Reviews > No Jealousy Here

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Disliked it
Story	Very ordinary
Characters / Performances	Unmemorable
Special Effects	Unmemorable
How does it compare to similar films?	Unmemorable

Advantages:	Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Barry Levionson
Disadvantages:	Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Barry Levionson

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Barry Levinson delivers to us this 'dark comedy' that was a huge disappointment to me. You would think that this would a thoroughly good entertainer with actors like Ben Stiller and Jack Black taking the leads; instead it's a boring farce and did not manage to hold my interest.

The Story centers around the dull lives of two life-long mates, Tim Dingman (Stiller), a real stickler for detail, and Nick Vanderpark (Black), a slacker who comes up with lame "bright" ideas like flavoured mouse pads that never see the light of day.

Both these guys lead pretty normal lives as working stiffs wanting the best for their families. However, climbing the corporate ladder at the local sandpaper factory is moving at a snail's pace for them.

While travelling to work together one day, Nick tells Tim about another of his ideas: inventing a spray that will make dog poo disappear. In fact, he is so confident of his plan to launch Va-Poo-Rize that he gets an old scientist to develop a formula and asks Tim to become a partner by investing $2 000.

Tim declines, assuming it is another one of Nick's scatterbrained schemes that will never get off the ground
.
He is proven wrong when Nick's spray is a hit with dog lovers and he is soon rolling in dough.

Filthy rich beyond belief, Nick enjoys living the high life in his huge mansion, which replaced his previous small abode, and he gets a flashy sports car with a number plate that reads CACA KING.

Jealous of Nick's fortune and his stupidity over not going 50/50 with him, Tim's life is thrown into disarray and he eventually loses his job; befriends J-Man (played by Christopher Walken), who fuels his envy and adds more chaos to his stressed life; unwittingly kills Nick's white stallion Lucky, and almost loses his family.

The film meanders through a series of truly ridiculous and unfunny situations and then ends with a stomach-turning feel-good climax. Stiller is so annoying with his moody, dark looks and fits of childish outrage that you wish you could use the Va-Poo-Rize and make him disappear along with Black and his loud shirts. Walken is the only character who spices up this dreary offering a little.

This is, literally, a crap movie which should have gone straight to video.