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Envy
R2 - United Kingdom - Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Mathew Buck (23rd February 2005). |
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The Film
 Envy is a film that was shot in 2002, but shelved after dismal test screenings. In 2004, after the two leads, Ben Stiller and Jack Black, found success, it was released. And it flopped at the box office, while being mauled by the US critics. So with it's arrival on DVD, the question that has to be asked is, "is it any good?". Well, it's not bad. But it's not great, either. Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black) is a family man, who works at the sandpaper factory with his next door neighbour and best friend, Tim (Ben Stiller). One day, Nick gets an idea - what if you sprayed dog poo and it disappears? Nick is really into it, but Tim isn't, and openly rejects it. So imagine Tim's surprise when Nick's idea actually works. Now, 18 months later, Tim, still at the sandpaper factory, is in the shadow of Nick, who has built his mansion right next door to Tim. And this makes Tim more than a little envious... OK, my reaction half way through was generally boredom. Why? I was wondering where the damn laughs are. Not just because funny scenes from the trailer are not in the movie, but also because there seem to be scenes with no relevance. On top of this is a sub-plot which only seems to actually be going somewhere in the last 5 minutes. Now the bad is off the bat, I can tell you the good. The second half is where the laughs are. OK, there are a few funny moments in the first half, but this is where they are, for the most part. It is also where the plot actually shifts into a something a little more interesting (but I won't spoil that for you). Ben Stiller is once again playing straight man, for the most part. He also seems to be doing his "angry man" bit as well. He is funny when angry, but in order for straight man to be funny, there has to be a funny character around him. Enter Christopher Walken as a bum called J-Man, who revels in helping Tim with his deeds. But this is Chris Walken here. Walken, in his limited screen time, actually steals any scenes Stiller might have any thunder. Jack Black, as dreamer Nick, is surprisingly secondary considering his role in the plot. In fact, I can't think of any true laugh-out-loud scenes with him in them, so he must be lacking with laughs. Bit-parter Rachel Weisz plays Tim's wife, who does nothing of note, except show a Lady MacBeth vibe in the second half. The music is a mainly annoying theme song about envy. It seems to play at nearly every moment where score is required. The amount of actual score I recall hearing could probably be stored in a greeting card. The visual style in the film is very bright, even the scenes taking place at night. Neat set design and if anything, there is seems to be a lot of green in some of the sets (hardly a subtle reference, but there you go). Envy is a good rental, and if you are really despearte for a budget disc, then buy it.
Video
Envy is presented in 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. As mentioned above, the film has a visually strong palette, and the disc shows them off just fine. No low level noise was detected. Aliasing was isolated to a few moments. Subtitles are presented in various languages, including English and French.
Audio
There a few DD5.1 dubs on this disc, but I went for the English DD 5.1 track. Being a comedy, there are few surround moments, with it not being that type of film. The soundtrack does what it does well, though, with one exception - dialouge seems to be a bit low in the mix, which is not great when it's on a movie with Christopher Walken in it.
Extras
You'd think there are heaps of Deleted Scenes or something on this disc, with all the stuff that was in the trailers. Nope. With all the participants obviously wanting to stay away from this bomb, extras are limited to trailers. There is one for Envy, and bonus trailers for Spider-Man 2, Christmas With The Kranks, The Forgotten, White Chicks, An Everlasting Piece, Anacondas: The Hunt For Blood Orchid and 50 Fist Dates. All are 16x9 enhanced, except An Everlasting Piece. It should be worth noting that the Anacondas trailer is rated 15, despite the disc being a 12. Still, the trailer is advertising a 12 film, and who cares about the trailer ratings anyways?
Overall
Ben Stiller and Jack Black would obviously like to forget Envy, but it is still fun, once you get past a rather slow start. Columbia Tristar provides this average film on a disc loaded with bonus trailers.
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