Barry Levinson's career slump continues apace with a wannabe black comedy that's neither dark nor funny.
Comment
08/11/08
Envy (2004)
6
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:111
Fresh:7
Rotten:104
Average Rating:3.1/10
Consensus: Jack Black and Ben Stiller fail to wring laughs from a script that's essentially one extended poop joke.
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Tim (Ben Stiller) and Nick (Jack Black) are best friends, neighbors and co-workers, whose equal footing is suddenly tripped up when one of Nick's harebrained get-rich-quick schemes actually... [More]
Starring: Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Christopher Walken, Rachel Weisz
Director: Barry Levinson
Reviews for Envy
Top CriticNot quite as good as it should have been, despite spirited performances from Black and Stiller and Christopher Walken on top crazy bonkers mental form.
09/11/04
Featuring two of America's most successful comic actors, you'd think it'd be hilarious. Think again.
09/11/04
Top CriticThe differing styles of the two comedians never meld, but the script is so flabby even an industrial crane couldn't lift it.
09/07/04
Top CriticHere's my pitch for a product. A spray that causes really bad movies to vaporize into air.
04/29/09
With so many dubious elements at play, even the half-good ideas get lost in the shuffle.
03/05/07
Envy crawls to its finish through a minefield of poor taste and comedic misfires.
03/05/07
...certainly not the flat-out disaster it's been made out to be.
08/05/06
I don't think any critic could have predicted a turkey like this based on the immense level of talent that is involved here.
06/20/05
A primary plot device involves the literal beating of a dead horse -- would they just like to write the reviews for us?
04/01/05
It is in fact consistently adequate and, in places, achieves nothing short of above-averageness.
10/19/04
Too broadly played and not at all funny enough, in spite of the milking of a high concept.
08/08/04
Levinson nunca foi um bom diretor de comédias (Bom Dia, Vietnã deve seu sucesso a Robin Williams), mas aqui ele definitivamente atinge o fundo do poço.
07/20/04
I don't envy anyone who has to answer for this bomb.
06/05/04
Obviously attempting to poach on the Farrelly Brothers territory, director Barry Levinson pushes Steve Adams' feeble screenplay over the top.
05/20/04
Pinched, airless -- and so far away from any recognizable human behavior patterns it feels like a movie made by (and for) aliens who watched too many Seinfeld reruns.
05/11/04
Envy is nothing to be jealous about.
05/10/04
The most disappointing release of the year so far.
05/10/04
This may be a shining example of a filmmaker who has completely lost touch with the audience.
05/09/04
Envy's horrid mix of poorly done black comedy and the incessant striving to be zany by Black, Stiller, and former Upright Citizens Brigade member Poehler makes Death to Smoochy look like a masterpiece of comic nuance.
05/09/04
Latest News for Envy
November 21, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Halls" Spreads Little Cheer; "Déjà Vu" Intrigues; "The Fountain" Overflows; "Pick" Is Mixed
This week at the movies, we've got holiday mischief ("Deck the Halls," starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito), a phenomenon known as déjà vu ("Déjà... More...
March 17, 2003:
Click Here for Preview. 
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