Color, PG-13 (mature themes, language, violence, sexual references, alcohol use), 100 min., DVD $19.95, VHS $15.95 DVD: replay feature, deleted scenes
Street: Sept. 28; Prebook: Aug. 24
First Run: W, April 2004, $12 mil.
Cast: Ben Stiller (Starsky and Hutch), Jack Black (The School of Rock), Rachel Weisz (Runaway Jury), Christopher Walken (The Stepford Wives), Amy Poehler (Mean Girls)
Director: Barry Levinson
DREAMWORKS
Story Line: Tim (Stiller) declines to put money into his neighbor Nick's (Black) invention of Vapoorize, which evaporates dog excrement. The way Nick spends his resultant millions causes Tim problems with his wife (Weisz) and he befriends eccentric vagabond J-Man (Walken) to gain revenge.
Bottom Line: This is the rare thing: a Barry Levinson movie with hot comedic stars that has very few laughs. With both leads portraying nice guys who stay friends and neighbors during what should be tension-filled encounters, there's no friction to create sparks. Even Walken's nutty hobo, who should have been the piece's villain, is pleasant enough (even if he does threaten Tim with extortion in the final reel). All the wives are happy at home for the most part, and Tim's envy is manifest only in outbursts of anger (which gets him fired). Executive producer Larry David is said to have reworked the script, but the trademark David deadpan humor works against the big visual sight gags, which include an oversized mansion, a backyard merry-go-round and a white stallion that Nick buys (and Tim kills). Mark Mothersbaugh's (Devo) soundtrack never shifts gears; the composer is best known for his off-center music--he does the Rugrats theme, among others--but this one stays disappointingly on-kilter (if that's a term). In fact the whole movie is on-kilter when it should have been playfully askew. On the positives, the production looks grand and the "Best of Black" feature on the DVD lets you pop back to highlights of Black's performance. We just wish there were more highlights to replay.