Very disappointing...

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

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.

I know this one came out a decade ago and I'm late to the game but the film's initial bad reviews had me put this on my Netflix queue to one day check out…that one day ended up being 10 years after it came out. Honestly, I could have waited another 10.The comedy in the film failed to make me laugh at every stop within the film's story. The gags just feel weak at best and like a desperate plea to get some chuckles at worse. I spent the entire running length of the film in silence and only chuckled once at a comment Christopher Walken's character made. Comedy is completely subjective but I was hard pressed to think of anyone who would find the lackluster shenanigans in this film amusing.Additionally, despite the fact that I enjoy pretty much everyone on the cast, no one really seemed like they really cared that much about the final product. Jack Black and Walken seem like they are putting some effort in but with the script as it is they can only do so much. Stiller, as much as I like him, looks like he just was doing the film for some extra cash and actresses Rachel Weisz and Amy Poehler are completely wasted and barely utilized.Finally, the story just feels messy and like it is just jumping from one section to the next with no real development or even an attempt to get the audience invested. There was a potential for "Envy" to be amusing—if not due to the cast alone—but the story is just flat and flavorless and the actors seem to match that.

What happens when you take 2 great comedy stars, 1 great comedy director and stick them in a movie written by a first timer? "Envy", which is Hollywood for "Complete and utter s--t!"The only thing this movie's got going for it is the great cast. Stiller, Black, Rachel Weisz, Amy Poehler, Christopher Walken. This film had plenty of talent. Unfortunately, their acting chops can't fix the terrible writing, and completely implausible story. Stiller and Black just didn't seem to have any comedic chemistry like they did in "Tropic Thunder". Amy Poehler and Rachel Weisz are both reduced to nagging wives, even though Poehler's character tries to run for senate, that doesn't fix her character's one-dimensional-ness. This movie would've been better had it just been about Christopher Walken as a wise but creepy hobo, he plays that character to a T, even if his lines are complete s--t. It's also worth mentioning that Rachel Weisz didn't appear in a comedy for another 3 years after this. I bet this film had something to do with it.Also, who invents a stupid invention like "Vay-poo-rize" and becomes that filthy rich? I mean, I can understand Bill Gates or Steve Jobs level of wealth from their respective advances in the world of computers. But the guy who invents a spray that vaporizes dog s--t? He wouldn't make THAT much! And the fact that it turns out that the product produces a lethal poison at the end of the film is completely implausible if you actually consider the real world aspects of it. If a giant corporation was going to by the product and market it, they would've discovered the negative side effects in laboratory testing, and that would've been the end of it. It wouldn't been sold on the market, and the inventor wouldn't have made dollar one! And even if something wasn't lethal and was bought up by a corporation, the inventor probably would've gotten the shaft like Robert Kearns did. (Robert Kearns was the man who invented the intermittent windshield wiper, and his patents were stolen by Ford and Chrysler, both of which he successfully sued. They did a movie about that in 2008 starring Greg Kinnear called "Flash of Genius", but I never saw it.)Speaking of lethal poison, what was the deal with the scene that featured the lady veterinarian with the incredibly thick Latino accent? The only point of that character was to make a joke about the way she pronounces the words lethal poison, which to Ben Stiller's character sounds like "little person". I call bulls--t! Guess what scriptwriters? That joke wasn't funny and I understood what she said the first time! Sorry, your joke bombed, as did your movie.Avoid this. It's just not worth it.

Start with the script. I have seen cartoons with more depth than "Envy". Anytime characters keep repeating what you have already seen, and was not funny the first time, a movie is in deep trouble, which "Envy" certainly is. A movie that relies on one joke had better have somewhere to go with it. Here we have a film that goes absolutely nowhere. Christopher Walken especially would like to forget this bomb, because his character is so weak. Ben Stiller has been in some pretty good black comedies, "Flirting With Disaster", and "Duplex", immediately come to mind. Be certain that "Envy" is not a black comedy. There are no double meanings, just total nonsense. "Envy" deserves it's low rating, because like it's subject matter, it stinks. - MERK