Envy (2004)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writer (WGA):

Steve Adams (written by)

Release Date:

30 April 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Success didn't go to his head, it went to his neighbor.

Plot:

A man becomes increasingly jealous of his friend's newfound success.

Plot Keywords:

Best Friend | Carousel | Plane | Frat Pack | Rain

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ben Stiller	...	Tim Dingman
Jack Black	...	Nick Vanderpark
Rachel Weisz	...	Debbie Dingman
Amy Poehler	...	Natalie Vanderpark
Christopher Walken	...	J-Man
Ariel Gade	...	Lula Dingman
Sam Lerner	...	Michael Dingman
Lily Jackson	...	Nellie Vanderpark
Connor Matheus	...	Nathan Vanderpark
Hector Elias	...	Eduardo
Angee Hughes	...	Woman at Play
Manny Kleinmuntz	...	Dimitriov
Blue Deckert	...	Cal
John Gavigan	...	Les
Terry Bozeman	...	3M Worker

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and sexual/crude humor.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA | Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Brazil:14 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40103) | Iceland:LH | Netherlands:AL | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-7 | Germany:o.Al. | Italy:T | Singapore:PG | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Brazil

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

At the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, during a press conference for Shark Tale (2004), both Jack Black and Dreamworks' Jeffrey Katzenberg publicly apologized for Envy (2004).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Tim is trying to do chest compressions on the horse after he shoots it, the entire torso rocks back and forth, an obvious dummy.

Quotes:

Debbie Dingman: [sighs while reading a magazine]
Tim Dingman: What?
Debbie Dingman: Nothing.
[momentary pause]
Debbie Dingman: Liposuction.
Tim Dingman: You mean... Where they suck the fat out?
Debbie Dingman: Mmm Hmm. There's a thing about it in here.
Tim Dingman: You're fine. You don't need to get fat sucked out.
Debbie Dingman: I don't know... If we had a little extra money...
Tim Dingman: We don't have extra money...
[...]

Soundtrack:

Envy

Future Cult Classic

Cult classics are nearly impossible to predict. Who could guess that Vision Quest, Fight Club, and 2001: A Space Oddysey, movies that were panned by critics and audiences alike upon their release, would become immensely popular? Like many IMDBers, I consider myself a movie expert. Unlike the majority of those who hated Envy(evidenced by a dismal 4.4 rating), I found Envy to be one of the funniest movies in the last decade.

The plot of the movie is ridiculous. The dialogue isn't clever, the scenes have little continuity, and the script seems like it was written by a fourth grader. But that's exactly why the movie is so hilarious. You see, in order to appreciate the accidental genius of Envy, you have to enjoy the movie from an ironically-detached point of view.

Why do I love Envy? Because the movie is bad to the point that it becomes good. This is the recipe for a cult classic, and Envy definitely fits the bill.