Dorathen
Better Late Then Never
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Michael Ledo
The film opens with two families going through their morning ritual. Tim Dingman (Ben Stiller) is married to Debbie (Rachel Weisz). He commutes to work with his neighbor Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black) who is married to Natalie (Amy Poehler). All this is done while listening to Leon Redbone. The film had actors and a musician who I love, yet I wasn't grabbed by the action.Nick is a dreamer who doesn't focus. He is thinking of inventions all the time. Tim is the conservative of the two and appears to be in a more senior position at work. Nick gets an ideal of a spray that will make dog poo disappear so people don't have to pick it up. He offers Tim a chance to go 50-50 into his idea. Tim doesn't think will work.The ideal takes off and about 15 minutes into the film, the action begins with the characters not yet established. The "envy" aspect builds way too fast. Christopher Walken enters the film as "The J-Man" and attempts to relate Tim's microcosm dilemma to the overall workings of society, something the script does rather poorly...or poo-ly. The film moves to a low point of envy in the nude (waist up on camera) men hot tub scene.Like the rest of the script, the expected ending comes at you rather quickly and not too well developed or funny.Parental Guide: 1 f-bomb, no nudity, no sex.
Wuchak
"Envy" bombed at the box office in 2004, but that doesn't mean it's not worth watching (or owning). Jack Black and Ben Stiller play neighbors & best friends in Southern California who work at a sandpaper factory. Black strikes it rich with an invention and builds a vast mansion where his former home was. Of course, this stirs the envy of Stiller who gets mixed-up with an eccentric vagabond, played by Christopher Walken. Amy Poehler and Rachel Weisz play the wives.While "Envy" isn't very laugh-out-loud funny, it's consistently amusing and the story is good enough to maintain your attention. Walken stands out as the offbeat bum. What I like best is the film's originality; I really can't think of any other films like it. Maybe that's why it bombed. I also like the way "Envy" pokes fun at materialism and everything that goes with it, e.g. envy. In addition, it's nice to watch a comedy like this without overt sleaze and overkill cussing, like 2007's "The Heartbreak Kid" (I don't mind realistic cussing in movies, but when it's overdone it's neither impressive nor funny; it's just stoo-pid and smacks of lazy writing).Weisz and Poehler are as gorgeous as ever, but they're decidedly peripheral and the filmmakers never take advantage of their presence. Regardless, "Envy" is solid, original amusement.The film runs 99 minutes and was shot in Santa Clarita, L.A. & Culver Studios, CA, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.GRADE: B
t-r-947-881950
This is my first movie review on IMDb. I was forced to register after reading the reviews. I cannot in good conscience allow this movie to be unreviewed by me. The people must be warned!First of all, my rating is: 9 (yes, "nine")I love Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Rachel Weisz and Christopher Walken and I loved this movie! The dialog is funny and original, the situations are intentional contrived, the flow of events is logical and amusing, the characters are eccentric and interesting and the story is based on a good premise and full of good ideas. This movie is great!
Steven
Given the talents of director Barry Levinson, actors Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Rachel Weisz, and Amy Poehler, I expected this movie to be good given who is working on it. I was wrong.The movie lacked pacing, originality, or wit. It felt like Stiller, Black, Weisz, and Poehler forced their performances. It felt like Levinson just decided after some takes to forget it. While it does have some moments, this movie felt kind of forced and Levinson just let the camera roll for too long.I know the people involved are much better than this movie turned out to be. This is worth checking maybe once if you are a fan of Barry Levinson or any of the actors involved.
