'Envy' leaves much to be desired

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

ENVY (PG-13) One-and-a-Half Stars (Poor-to-Fair)

Stiller and Black play Tim and Nick, lifelong friends whose relationship is threatened when Nick achieves mega-million-dollar success with a bizarre invention, leaving Tim broke and jealous.

Nick makes his millions on Vapoorizer, a spray that literally makes dog poop evaporate into thin air. An unkind critic might suggest that DreamWorks should have sprayed Vapoorizer on this movie. We won't go quite that far, since viewers may find a few laughs in the antics of the always fascinating supporting actor, Christopher Walken.

Still, this contrived and corny enterprise will generate little envy in other filmmakers.

Once Nick hits the big time, Tim's envy gets the better of him and his erratic behavior leads to a dead horse, an out-of-whack merry-go-round and all sorts of other nonsense.

Capable veteran Barry Levinson has directed "Envy," but there's nothing here to indicate a resume that includes "Diner," "Rain Man" and "Liberty Heights." Levinson and his first-time screenwriter go for laughs willy-nilly with no attempt to develop Tim and Nick as flesh-and-blood characters. Even with such skilled practitioners as Stiller and Black, the jokes are labored and forced.

Both Stiller and Black struggle mightily to get "Envy" on its feet, but they might as well be kicking that aforementioned dead horse.

Walken is "Envy's" only bright spot. He plays a part-time con artist and full-time bum named "J-Man." Sporting a gosh-awful mop of hair and heavily layered mismatched clothes, he pops in and out of the movie, seemingly at will, driving a wedge between the successful Nick and the disappointed Tim.

Whenever Walken shows up, the anarchical nature of the comedy finds hits its only true exponent. You'll only wish J-Man was the film's central character. Now there would be a movie worth envying.

Rated PG-13, profanity, innuendo.