Reviewed - Envy: You can, perhaps, forgive American critics for the spectacular scorn they have poured on Envy. Since the plot involves a substance that can make dog turds disappear, the temptation to suggest that a can of Vapoorize (the product is so named) should have been directed at Steve Adams's script must have been irresistible, writes Donald Clarke.

But, in truth, Envy is more dull than dreadful. If the name of a once great director - the increasingly aimless Barry Levinson - did not appear among the credits, then Envy's ordinariness would hardly seem worthy of comment.

Jack Black and Ben Stiller (in future, let's assume that, unless stated otherwise, all films here reviewed feature Stiller) star as two bored neighbours from the Valley trapped in dull factory jobs. When Black, the less uptight of the two, invents the magic cleaning agent and becomes hugely wealthy, serious tensions develop.

What follows should, in principle, be hilarious. Instead of moving to Beverley Hills, Black levels his old house and, in its place, builds a huge mansion with a concert hall, a bowling alley and a stable for Corky, his aggressively beautiful white horse. Late one night, burning with covetousness, a drunken Stiller, who spurned an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the Vapoorize gravy train, accidentally kills Corky with a bow and arrow. With the help of a madman played by Christopher Walken, he sets out to put things right.

Sadly, Envy is barely a tenth as amusing as it sounds. Levinson, seeking perhaps to recapture the mood of his fine Tin Men, nudges the actors towards low-key, naturalistic performances and shoots the picture in muted shades. Combined with a script that is all concept and no jokes, the inappropriately drab ambience lends the film the atmosphere one might expect from a birthday party run by morticians.

A second star is, however, granted for Walken's agreeable lunacy.