Genre: comedy

Envy

Directed by Barry Levinson

Written by Steve Adams

Starring Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Christopher Walken

Classification: PG

Rating: **

My guess is that Envy is both doomed and destined to become a cult film -- you know, the kind of picture that most hate but a few adore. If so, the cult will definitely not be devoted to the two guys -- Jack Black and Ben Stiller -- whose mugs are plastered on the posters. There's only one good reason to see this thing, and it's got nothing to do with that pair. Who then? Who else but the high priest of camp, the bishop of fifth business, the pope of the absurd -- bow low to Christopher Walken.

But let's save the best for last. The worst isn't long in coming, and should be a whole lot better than it is. The curtain rises on a cookie-cutter suburbia, where a matched set of neighbours share their quiet lives of dull conformity -- same tract house, same bland job, same nuclear family (one tiresome wife, two tiring kids). About all that distinguishes these bosom buddies is their personality: Nick (Black) is an inveterate dreamer, forever devising wonky ideas for unfeasible inventions; Tim (Stiller) is a professional rule-follower, an uptight slave to the straight-and-narrow.

Enter the comic hook. The dreamer comes up with an impossible scheme that somehow, some way, works out: A chemical spray that, when spritzed at fresh dog poop, causes the steamy pile to vanish into thin air. Pooch-walkers everywhere can bid goodbye to inverted plastic bags, and shout hello to "Va-Poo-Rize." Which they do, in droves, making Nick an overnight billionaire and Tim, who declined a chance to invest, a pooh-poohing putz.

Not that our nouveau rich boy is one to forget where he came from. Nope, he stays right in the neighbourhood to flaunt his wealth, building the brontosaurus of all monster homes -- with a yellow Lamborghini in the garage, a white charger in the stable, and swarthy lackeys oozing from every vast wing. Of course, faced daily with this monument to limitless cash and no taste, his old pal comes face to face with his own monster -- you guessed it, the green-eyed demon of envy.

Since the comedy is where the taboo issues of money and class get discussed in American film, there's certainly promise in this premise. And you might think that director Barry Levinson is the man to deliver on it -- after all, from Diner and Tin Men to Good Morning, Vietnam and Wag the Dog, he has a track record of finding some pathos in the laughs. But not this time. Instead, the script (not his, alas) treats the conceit as a broad fable and heads off in pursuit of screwball farce. The search takes the disjointed form of antic set pieces -- stopping a runaway merry-go-round, stooping to bury a dead horse -- that come out of nowhere and (despite an occasional yuk en route) end up there too.

Worse, the usually amusing Black is shackled by a character whose generous good nature remains unchanged by his sudden wealth. So, Jack -- who's at his funniest at his meanest -- never gets to put any Black in the comedy. By contrast, preoccupied with all the antic business, Stiller relies too heavily on his trademark -- that damn hooded stare of his, like a toothless snake depressed by his charmer.

But I've postponed the best long enough. Yes, the weird and wonderful Walken. Who does he play? Some long-haired drifter, but it doesn't really matter. What does he say? This, as a consolation to the woebegone: "Life's unfair -- it's a raw-deal planet." Or this, as an encouragement to talk: "C'mon, just let it tumble out, like circus freaks, man." But that hardly matters either. It's not what he says that's funny, but the way he says it. Like his delivery of a simple line, "Good for you," not once but three times in rapid succession -- each with a different intonation, a changed rhythm, a separate look. His every minute on screen is filled with that level of jittery invention, and, watching him at play, not even the flintiest temper could resist a wide grin. Envy can surely be a trial, but Saint Christopher is there to ease our troubled journey and see us smilingly home.