"Envy" has all the earmarks of a huge movie bomb. It sat on the shelf for two years, the stars and director publicly apologized for the film AND the film was in and out of American theaters so fast that they didn't even bother having it play in theaters in Europe! Why? Well, the script has a good idea but the execution just isn't all that funny. Some of this doubtless is because the film was directed by an exceptional director...but one who simply isn't a comedy director. His one other attempt at comedy was the godawful "Toys"...which, like "Envy", had some stars and a decent idea...but which just didn't work.
The story is about two friends. When the story begins, Tim (Ben Stiller) is the more successful of the two and it would appear it will stay that way. In contrast, Nick (Jack Black) is a dreamer....and his ideas for making riches sound really dumb. Amazingly, however, his idea for a miracle spray that makes dog feces magically disappear actually is made into a successful product...and he becomes immensely wealthy almost overnight. Now, Nick has built a HUGE mansion next to his friend's home and is very nice towards Tim and his family.
In spite of how nice Nick is, Tim becomes resentful and during this resentful period, he meets a weirdo in a bar. J-Man (Christopher Walken) wants to help Tim get revenge....and it's all very premature as soon Nick gives Tim a partnership in his company and now Tim, too, is a rich man. But what about the revenge plan? How will this come back to haunt him?
While I didn't hate this film despite it's low IMDB score and more, I didn't love it either. Much of it is because the story has some funny elements and should have worked much better...it should have been very funny but just wasn't. I see it as a bit of a time-passer and nothing else.
