Normally a comedy starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black, directed by Barry Levinson would go right to the top of my rental list. But the trailers for this never really made me laugh. It got horrid reviews when it came out. I meant to check it out for myself when it did arrive on DVD, but it got lost in my mind somewhere along the way.

The opening credits are brilliant, the camera slowly swings around Jack and then Ben, contrasting the start of their day. Wonderfully inventive and beautifully pulled off. From there it went quickly downhill. It's not a terrible comedy, I don't think it deserves the hate it got. Mostly it's incredibly uneven. One scene is well done, very funny, then the following scene is insipid and badly executed. It's almost like there were two separate directors on set, taking turns, and their skill sets didn't match. More likely is that everyone got bored somewhere along the way and gave up on the film.

Jack does his thing. Ben does his. Walken turns in another wacky performance. If the script and directing been there, this could have been a top-notch comedy. A real waste of talent.