Jackson Booth-Millard
I remember hearing the title for the film a couple of times, but I had no idea who was in it or what the theme was, when I did eventually find out some of the facts, including that it was one star out of five, I was intrigued, from director Barry Levinson (Good Morning, Vietnam; Rain Man). Basically best friends, neighbours and co-workers Tim Dingman (Razzie nominated Ben Stiller) and Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black), and have been for years, but their friendship is due to change quite dramatically. Nick is often coming up with hair-brained ideas for inventions, but then he invents one that actually works, he has created a spray that is used on dog feces, and it instantly disappears. Soon enough with the high demand for the product makes Nick a millionaire, so naturally he builds a bigger house across the road, with a bowling alley and swimming pool, he buys a nice car and he buys a horse. It is obvious that Tim missed out on the opportunity to invest or help out in being a part of the "Vapoorize" business, and his envy is making their friendship very tricky, and Tim's wife Debbie (Rachel Weisz) is mad too. One night, not long after losing his job, Tim goes out for a drink, and in the bar he meets drifting bum J-Man (Christopher Walken), who convinces him he should do something about his envy. while drunk and walking home, Tim takes a bow and arrow and randomly shoots in the air, and he unintentionally kills Nick's horse Corkey, and the only way to get rid of it is bury it under what was meant to be his pool in the ground. Soon enough Nick is desperate to get the horse back, offering a $50,000 reward for his return, so J-Man suggests that Tim digs it back up and makes it look like a natural death that he can find and claim the reward. Of course this plan doesn't go smoothly, with Tim's wife and kids staying overnight in a run-down cabin to avoid suspicion, and they end up losing the horse that was put on top of the car. Meanwhile, Nick is having slight troubles of his own, as hundreds of protesters are demanding to know from him or wife Natalie (Amy Poehler) where the dog poo goes after it has disappeared. After seeing that Tim has agreed with Nick to join the business, helping with promotion and stuff, J-Man blackmails him for money or else he tells about the dead horse. But Tim confesses to Debbie, and against her wishes to keep the money rolling, he also confesses about what happened to Corkey to Nick, he understands it was a mistake, and after thinking J-Man is dead they seem to be friends again. In the end though, it turns out that the "Vapoorize" spray contains a toxic ingredient, and forced off the shelves, but thankfully, Tim with the agreement of Nick comes up with a new invention to make money, flan in a pot called Pocket Flan. Also starring Ariel Gade as Lula Dingman, Sam Lerner as Michael Dingman, Lily Jackson as Nellie Vanderpark, Connor Matheus as Nathan Vanderpark and Hector Elias as Eduardo. I agree with the critics that it is a good cast, Stiller average as the envious friend, Black - after his success in School of Rock - as his show-off friend, Weisz gets her moments, and Walken is amusing as the wise tramp. The concept of a spray getting rid of dog's mess is alright, but the scripting needed much more improvement, not even loads of characters repeating the "S" word is that funny, it just didn't make me laugh much, a terribly boring comedy. Pretty poor!
yerlo
OK, I overrated it just a bit to offset at least one of those grumpy reviews. But I did enjoy it. I didn't laugh out loud, but it held my interest and pulled me along without dropping me at any point. The story built. Yeah, you knew it would have an happy ending--this genre always does. Meantime, it was quirky with sight gags you could miss, so pay attention when you watch. Stiller and Black delivered expertly yet again. Good team. They should work together more. Don't know that it will be a cult classic, but it was certainly a fun ride. Not as good as WHAT ABOUT BOB, or DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS but what is? It is still worth going out of your way a little to get and watch this movie.
