SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

SnoopyStyle Tim Dingman (Ben Stiller) and Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black) are best friends and co-workers. Nick is a dreamer who dreams up a spray to vaporize dog poo. Tim is a reserved man who thinks the idea is silly, and does not invest $2000 in an idea of a lifetime. Nick becomes super rich, and Tim is still stuck in his life. Nick is jealous and his wife Debbie (Rachel Weisz) won't let it go. That's when he meets crazy J-Man (Christopher Walken).This is not only unfunny, but it's utterly annoying. These people are not just hateful. They're annoying. Both Stiller and Black are playing different kinds of annoying people. Ben is the title Envy character, but Black is totally clueless. If you're looking for likable characters, you won't find them in the wives. Weisz is a petty angry woman, and Amy Poehler is even more idiotic than Black. There is just nobody to cling to in this movie. This blackest of black comedy from director Barry Levinson doesn't work because I can't stand these characters. It's a depressing movie watching experience.

Chrysanthepop With a cast that includes Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Rachel Weisz, Amy Poehler and Christopher Walken, how could one go wrong with a comedy? The answer, in this case, is poor writing and direction. Barry Levinson's is poorly developed, inconsistent and overall a weak film. Some of the lines made me cringe. Even Jack Black and Ben Stiller couldn't do much to rise above the bad writing and Amy Poehler is terribly wasted. The only good thing is that all five actors have good chemistry and perhaps because they work well together, they, especially Weisz and Walken, manage to draw at least a few chuckles in some sequences. Given the premise, this could have easily been an engaging dark comedy. Unfortunately, Steve Adams horrendously messes up the screenplay that 'Envy' barely stands a chance. I don't know why a talented director like Barry Levinson chose to do this movie. It's a pity that a promising cast is wasted in it.

Jackson Booth-Millard I remember hearing the title for the film a couple of times, but I had no idea who was in it or what the theme was, when I did eventually find out some of the facts, including that it was one star out of five, I was intrigued, from director Barry Levinson (Good Morning, Vietnam; Rain Man). Basically best friends, neighbours and co-workers Tim Dingman (Razzie nominated Ben Stiller) and Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black), and have been for years, but their friendship is due to change quite dramatically. Nick is often coming up with hair-brained ideas for inventions, but then he invents one that actually works, he has created a spray that is used on dog feces, and it instantly disappears. Soon enough with the high demand for the product makes Nick a millionaire, so naturally he builds a bigger house across the road, with a bowling alley and swimming pool, he buys a nice car and he buys a horse. It is obvious that Tim missed out on the opportunity to invest or help out in being a part of the "Vapoorize" business, and his envy is making their friendship very tricky, and Tim's wife Debbie (Rachel Weisz) is mad too. One night, not long after losing his job, Tim goes out for a drink, and in the bar he meets drifting bum J-Man (Christopher Walken), who convinces him he should do something about his envy. while drunk and walking home, Tim takes a bow and arrow and randomly shoots in the air, and he unintentionally kills Nick's horse Corkey, and the only way to get rid of it is bury it under what was meant to be his pool in the ground. Soon enough Nick is desperate to get the horse back, offering a $50,000 reward for his return, so J-Man suggests that Tim digs it back up and makes it look like a natural death that he can find and claim the reward. Of course this plan doesn't go smoothly, with Tim's wife and kids staying overnight in a run-down cabin to avoid suspicion, and they end up losing the horse that was put on top of the car. Meanwhile, Nick is having slight troubles of his own, as hundreds of protesters are demanding to know from him or wife Natalie (Amy Poehler) where the dog poo goes after it has disappeared. After seeing that Tim has agreed with Nick to join the business, helping with promotion and stuff, J-Man blackmails him for money or else he tells about the dead horse. But Tim confesses to Debbie, and against her wishes to keep the money rolling, he also confesses about what happened to Corkey to Nick, he understands it was a mistake, and after thinking J-Man is dead they seem to be friends again. In the end though, it turns out that the "Vapoorize" spray contains a toxic ingredient, and forced off the shelves, but thankfully, Tim with the agreement of Nick comes up with a new invention to make money, flan in a pot called Pocket Flan. Also starring Ariel Gade as Lula Dingman, Sam Lerner as Michael Dingman, Lily Jackson as Nellie Vanderpark, Connor Matheus as Nathan Vanderpark and Hector Elias as Eduardo. I agree with the critics that it is a good cast, Stiller average as the envious friend, Black - after his success in School of Rock - as his show-off friend, Weisz gets her moments, and Walken is amusing as the wise tramp. The concept of a spray getting rid of dog's mess is alright, but the scripting needed much more improvement, not even loads of characters repeating the "S" word is that funny, it just didn't make me laugh much, a terribly boring comedy. Pretty poor!

Mike Kiker 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.