Envy (2004)

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

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writer:

Steve Adams

Stars:

Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Rachel Weisz

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Ben Stiller and Jack Black star as Tim and Nick, best friends, neighbors and co-workers, whose equal footing is suddenly tripped up when one of Nick's harebrained get-rich-quick schemes actually succeeds: Vapoorizer, a spray that literally makes dog poop, or any other kind for that matter, evaporate into thin air -- to where exactly is anyone's guess. Tim, who had scoffed at Nick's idea and passed on an opportunity to get in on the deal, can only watch as Nick's fortune -- and Tim's own envy -- grow to equally outrageous proportions. When the flames of jealousy are fanned by an oddball drifter (Walken) who imposes himself into the situation, Tim's life careens wildly out of control ... taking Nick's with it.

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Plot Keywords:

falling downhill | movie flop | columbia tristar | dreamworks | fired from the job | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language and sexual/crude humor

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jack Black, Ben Stiller and DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg publicly apologized for the film during a press conference for Shark Tale (2004) at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

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Goofs

When Debbie throws the light bulb in the trash can, there is a roll of paper towels on the counter behind her. When Debbie takes the can of Vapoorize out of the trash can, the roll of paper towels is gone from the counter and is instead in the garbage.

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Quotes

Mr. Parmenter: Now, your performance chart's pretty good until here. And then your focus nosedives into the red. You see? Now, is there anything that happened around *here*... you might like to talk about?
Tim Dingman: Um, no.
Mr. Parmenter: You sure?
Tim Dingman: Yeah. No.
Mr. Parmenter: Any reason?
Tim Dingman: Reason? No, I can't think of...
Mr. Parmenter: Any reason at all?
Tim Dingman: No. No reason. No. I mean, nothing I can think of. I mean... you know, other than every day, I get into my little shit-box car and there he is... with the wind in his hair... on his great big shiny horse. And I drive off to ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

During the end credits, viewers see a TV infomercial for Dingman and Vanderpark's new invention, Pocket Flan.

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Connections

Referenced in Be Kind Rewind (2008)

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Soundtracks

The Happy Wanderer
Written by Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller & Antonia Ridge
Performed by Brave Combo
Courtesy of Rounder Records
By Arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group

User Reviews

There's no accounting for humor

"Envy" is a silly comedy about a couple of best friend couples who live in identical tract homes on a cul de sac, leading identical lives until one of them invents an aerosol alternative to the pooper scooper, "Vapoorize", which makes feces vanish into thin air. Jack Black is his usual comedic self as the inventor who quickly climbs to mogul status while his buddy, Stiller, languishes in relative ordinariness, green with envy. Featuring a good cast, sporting the Levinson pedigree, and chock full of inany zany nonsense, "Envy" shoulda been more than the colossal bomb which, according to critics and public alike, stinks so bad it could be "vapoorized". I laughed a lot but the, hey, that's just me. Not recommendable based on the lousy results from just about everyone. (C+)

Details

Official Sites:

Dreamworks Pictures.

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

30 April 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Envy

Filming Locations:

Brazil

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,160,886, 2 May 2004

Gross USA:

$13,562,325

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,494,036

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dreamworks Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Castle Rock Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1