Corporate peon and shiftless dreamer, Vanderpark (played by an uncharacteristically reined-in Jack Black) invents a spray which vaporizes doggy-doo, appropriately named "Va-poo-rize." His pragmatic neighbor, Tim Dingman (Ben Stiller, in characteristic nebbish idiom), who is also Vanderpark's co-worker and best friend, is the character to whom the movie's title pertains. Though he was initially invited to invest in Vanderpark's invention, Dingman poo-poohed the concept, and watching Vanderpark's riches grow to maddening proportions drives him to deeds of dastardly dander...

Hard to pinpoint why this movie is such a fartistic failure. The ingredients were ripe: two brilliant comic actors (Jack Black and Ben Stiller), one off-the-can comic actor (Christopher Walken), a reasonably loo-cid storyline, a recurring song evoking a Farrelly Brothers' taint, and a scatological script - always good for a flushing laugh.

99 minutes of comedic diarrhea later, Vanderpark's very invention leaves him neck-deep in political poo, finding the two friends on the same stool again. And us on the pot.

With Levinson's loose direction and constipated performances, Envy fails to make a splash. Like Vanderpark's empire, this movie was unfortunately also built on poo.


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