Envy

Envy is a comedy released in 2004 starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Both of their characters work for 3M, where Stiller is some sort of manager in the sandpaper department (Tim Dingman) and Black (Nick Vanderpark) lacks focus. During their drive to work, Nick demonstrates his tendency to try to imagine inventions, which culminates in the concept of a spray that makes dog feces vanish into thin air.

The product actually becomes a reality, and hilarity ensues. Nick becomes a super-millionaire (complete with infomercial) and buys half the neighborhood instead of moving uptown, leaving his neighbor Tim literally in his shadow - or at least the shadow of his house. After all, the name of the movie is Envy. Tim's preoccupation with Nick's success leads to his being fired, and he visits a local watering hole where he meets the J-Man, played by Christopher Walken. J-Man is apparently some type of ex-druggie (in typical hollywood style, his hair is long and he says "maaan" a lot) who has been around and done everything, and he gets Tim riled up to get back at Nick somehow.

In his drunken stupor, unfortunately, Tim kills Nick's pet horse, and the comedy turns into something I don't particularly like to see - emotional slapstick. This is also where the movie became completely predictable. Even before the arrow was loosed I knew it was going to hit the horse (which we had not yet seen at all in that scene, mind you.) Everything else that happens from that point is basically completely predictable and offers you nothing surprising whatsoever.

This is, however, really the movie's only major failing, so I give it fairly high marks. I don't think I'd see it again, but most people don't seem to get the same sickening feeling in their stomach watching fictional characters be idiots that I do, so you might want to see it over and over again. (It was much better than Cats.)