Product Details

• Actors: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Rachel Weisz, Amy Poehler, Christopher Walken
• Directors: Barry Levinson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Dreamworks Video
• VHS Release Date: September 28, 2004
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002C7P9U
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,400 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Envy is a funny movie, but it's more funny peculiar than funny ha-ha, so enjoyment is purely a matter of personal taste. When Nick (Jack Black) invents an aerosol spray that makes dog-poop disappear (think of the boon to society!), he reaps a fortune overnight and sends his friend, co-worker and neighbor Tim (Ben Stiller) into a tailspin of simmering envy, since he had no faith in Nick's get-rich-quick scheme and declined his offer of 50-50 partnership. What makes this potentially raucous plot peculiar is that it sets up the situation and proceeds to ignore its most comedic implications, opting instead for a sub-plot involving bows, arrows, a dead horse, and an eccentric vagrant (Christopher Walken, offering reliable comic relief) who coaches Tim on the joys of neighborly blackmail. All the while, Envy suffers a comedic identity crisis, giving Black and Stiller a few good laughs (along with their on-screen wives, played by Rachel Weisz and Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler) while director Barry Levinson struggles to reach a quirky balance of morality play and blue-collar farce. He never quite gets there. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cool movie if you like poop, November 28, 2004

By	Kolors "Jimmy" (Pocatello, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Envy (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

The funniest parts of this movie come in the first couple of scenes with Tim (Ben Stiller) and Nick (Jack Black)going to and from work. The dialogue between them just cracked me up about the tasting of each others pants and "Do you ever just watch your hand?" Funniest parts of the whole movie. Soon thereafter, I realized the engine that was to drive the comedy in this movie was centered around making poop disappear, I knew this film was in trouble.
After the age of 8 or 9 I didn't find anything about poop to be that funny anymore. Unfortunately with the screenwriter of this movie, that wasn't the case. I think the whole "Envy" story could've been easily driven by somthing else. There's funnier things out there than poop.
As far as the acting goes, Ben Stiller and Jack Black did all they could for this movie. Their preformances were fine, so no fault on thier part(except for the fact that they agreed to do this movie). Same goes for Christopher Walken.
To go along with this bad movie is a crappy (no pun intended) DVD. There's a scene index of Black's funniest moments in the movie. Who cares? I just watched it. If I really cared enough about it to see the funniest moments again, I'd torture myself by watching it again. There's also a photo gallery (we all know that's boring) and cast and crew bios. And some production notes. I would just rather them not have any special features so I don't have to waste my time.
In closing, this movie is just a result of a bad and ridiculous idea. Does Hollywood really think we'd find this funny?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black... WHAT A COMBINATION..., November 3, 2004

By	Christian H. Kim (California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Envy (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

I'm a big fan of Ben Stiller and Jack Black- So I picked this DVD from many comedy choices because you can't go wrong with Ben AND Jack combo, right? right?? right???

Wow.. this movie blew me away...I was just sitting and watching while thinking about what I'm gonna eat for dinner...

I write reviews when I wanna tell people how great this video game or DVD is... But I'm writing today to warn you to skip this one; I don't know what it is, but Ben and Jack combo didn't workout.

IF YOU WANT TO SPEND YOUR MONEY TO FRUSTRATE YOURSELF, THEN PLEASE GO AHEAD. OTHER THAN THAT...SKIP IT.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars OK comedy film that grows unbearable, December 2, 2004

By	TrezKu13 (Norfolk, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Envy (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

I have read two true things on this review page: Christopher Walken was one of the only reasons I continued watching this film (although I admit Jack Black is all around just a funny guy), and most of the real, actual comedy is in the scene where the two leading men drive to work. Sadly, the rest of the film wasn't enjoyable at all.

One of the main problems I had was the scenario. Jack Black uses a crazy idea, Ben Stiller doesn't cash in, and practically overnight Jack Black is a millionaire while Ben Stiller is still a struggling middle-class father. But here's the thing: Jack Black's character shares his wealth with his friend, continually saying things along the lines of "You're my buddy!" Sure, he flaunts his wealth, but he never once treats his wealth as some kind of superiority. I couldn't understand why Ben Stiller could grow to hate him so much, let alone feel all that jealous. Whenever he flew into a rage I couldn't help but think, "Hey buddy, get a grip on yourself!" I don't know if it was envy so much as a psychological disorder.

My other problem is that this film really doesn't have a single theme or focus. The first third is the growing envy of Ben Stiller, the second third is Ben Stiller trying to hide the fact he killed Jack Black's horse, the final is Ben Stiller trying to handle the problem of Christopher Walken's character - so you heard it from me folks, as a warning, only the first third of this movie is the actual "envy." I have to also add the filmmaking felt totally incoherent - I had the impression there were five different directors working on the movie, each with their own style. That didn't help the already distorted storyline.

All in all, this movie drags itself out too long. By the time Ben Stiller and Jack Black make up in the middle of the film I wanted it to end, but instead it just drags itself on. I don't know, maybe the poop thing really did bring some chuckles to the screenwriters, but after an hour the audience gets the point. A lot of it was just plain predictable too - I mean, how many scenarios where someone feels guilty and tries to cover up what they do DOESN'T end in a kiss-and-make-up between the two characters?

I wouldn't suggest watching this. Or at least watch the first ten minutes, trust me, you're not missing much else after that.