Wednesday

There's a comedy starring Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Rachel Weisz and Christopher Walken, directed by Barry Levinson (Bandits, Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam etc). How come we haven't heard of it? It's called Envy and came out in 2004. I have a feeling that it probably went straight to video - which is rare for a film with such big names (you might think they'd get quite a few people to see it because of the stars alone). Watching it last night, I think its main problem is that the situation is only mildly funny, and the characters definitely aren't. Stiller and Black don't have a lot to work with. There's not much tension we can enjoy or sympathise with. Even in Meet The Parents where Stiller's character was fairly blank, the situation he found himself in became funny. Here, there's virtually nothing. Weisz also isn't very good at comedy, which doesn't help, and the strange music makes the film seem like a morality play on the dangers of envy. Plus at the beginning, before we've had a chance to engage with the characters, we keep skipping forward in time. It was all a bit weird. At least, though, there were some good moments: Stiller and Black do get to enjoy themselves occasionally, notably Stiller's long speech at the end, or Black's protestations at the unstoppable carousel. I think the whole thing might have been better with different actors and directors (the script could be funny) but overall this was a failed experiment.