The Watch

The Watch has been getting a fair few negative reviews. Yeah, sure, it's no cinematic masterpiece, but I don't think it's meant to be. It's a comedy full of amusing conversations. There aren't really that many punchlines which will have your sides splitting, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a certain charm.

Ben Stiller leads a neighbourhood watch team that accidentally stumbles across an alien plot to take over the world. Yes, it's as silly as it sounds. Yes, there are plenty of unbelievable moments and yes, there are plenty of plot holes. But, there's also so much right with this film, that I think, if you try, you should be able to gloss over any misgivings you may have for this and enjoy it for what it is.

It's the perfect movie to sit down and relax your brain. Let the silly men entertain you and snigger at their attempts to save the world. Plus, for all you horror fans out there, the aliens themselves are pretty decent budget with a few gory moments thrown in for added bonus.

It's daft, it's smutty, it's silly, but it's also very enjoyable.

Kudos to Richard Ayoade for getting his foot into Hollywood's door. Good luck to him - he shows he can hold his own among Hollywood's comedic A-listers.

The Watch is one of those comedies that seems to rely too heavily on its cast's abilities and believes it can phone-in other key parts of filmmaking such as writing, tone, direction, and wit. When we laugh during the film, are we laughing because the scenarios are funny or because these are actors we've all seen in funny movies? Combing three of the funniest and most reliable actors working today, and one British actor who already has a loyal fanbase in America, seems like an easy recipe for success, but the recipe begins to call for too much and offer too little quickly.

The film was originally titled "Neighborhood Watch," but was quickly changed because of looming controversy from the Trayvon Martin case. You won't be thinking about that at all because the film offers so little resemblance to any "neighborhood watch" movie, program, or event in the last decade or so. It concerns Evan Trautwig (Stiller), a Costco manager and a loyal community activist, who has been starting clubs left and right for his humble Glenview, Ohio neighborhood. After one of his workers is murdered in the Costco, Evan creates a neighborhood watch program, which only recruits three misfits; loudmouth Bob (Vaughn), unstable Franklin (Hill), and offbeat Jamarcus (Ayoade).

As the watch works in a rather disorganized manner, they soon discover that the town is home to rather unearthly creatures and, obviously, since the police won't believe them, they must take matters into their own hands.

Ben Stiller gives his umpteenth rendition of the good-guy trying to do right, Vince Vaughn is a loud, obnoxious fratboy, who is struggling to maintain control as a single father looking after his rebellious teen daughter, and Jonah Hill is rather off-putting as an rejected police officer, mama's boy who continues to have trouble emoting and controlling his anger. While they are all playing stale archetypes of characters they have done in the past, they do manage to squeeze some laughs and chuckles here and there. But the king here is easily Richard Ayoade, who is sadly getting the cold shoulder with the film's ad campaign, which is boasting "STILLER, VAUGHN, AND HILL." Ayoade stars on a British sitcom called The IT Crowd, and has picked up followers in the U.S happily. Here, he delivers some memorable one-liners, as he sometimes effortlessly one-ups the other comedy veterans at their game.

What leaves The Watch with a pungent aftertaste is the writing, which to begin with, is not very funny, but is brought to the "decent" category because we see funny actors performing what is on the paper. The film was written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Jared Stern, and seeing as both Rogen and Goldberg were the ones responsible for making Superbad's script so quick, witty, and hilarious, it is surprising to see The Watch flounder in the writing department. This is where the film becomes too reliant on its actors, as it neglects to give them some interesting dialog to bounce off of.

It is also apparent that the direction is obscured because of the screenplay continuously jumping into raunchy comedy, sci-fi elements, romanticism between Evan and his wife, drama between Bob and his daughter, etc. One moment, we are laughing tirelessly at R. Lee Ermey's over-the-top cameo and the next, we are rolling our eyes when the boys are being attacked in Bob's mancave by another life-form. Had the film been more consistent in its writing, I doubt this problem would've even been so noticeable.

Director Akiva Schaffer, one of the three members of The Lonely Island comedy troupe (the three make a cameo in the film) responsible for some seriously witty music videos and digital shorts on Saturday Night Live, definitely has passion for the weird and surreal, with his previous effort being the unsung cult classic Hot Rod. He simply does what he can with what he has, while The Watch scurries along in its screenplay of errors and its directions a plenty Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Will Forte, and R. Lee Ermey. Directed by: Akiva Schaffer.

We found this quite entertaining and the characters were good, but I have to ask who wrote the script - a bunch of schoolboys? Almost every gag was based on d*cks, c*m, big red b*lls, condoms and p*ss. Why? There are plenty of other ways of making gags funny, you know.

If a lot of you already know, "The Watch" was originally given the title, "Neighborhood Watch", but then the title was changed due to a controversy involving the shooting of Trayvon Martin by a member of a neighborhood watch group. Now, although I was really looking forward to see this movie, and although this movie's Rotten Tomatoes rating of 15% is quite not agreeable, "The Watch", although at it's consistent funny moments, isn't that perfect or quite memorable for an R-rated comedy. With an all-star cast, Ben Stiller delivers the same, usual, and uninspired performance as Evan, he's a kind and "by-the-book" nerd, working as a general manager for a local Costco, who then forms a neighborhood watch after his friend was murdered. He teams up Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoyade to help keep the neighborhood safe…or it's just a lame excuse to hang out with the guys! But then, an alien invasion starts to appear out of nowhere, and now it's up to the watch to keep everyone safe. Now, "The Watch" is not a terrible movie like everyone says it is, but it is a disappointing comedy that shares a few consistent laughs throughout. Even with a cool soundtrack and a likable cast, "The Watch" sadly doesn't live up to the hype for me! But, there are a few consistent moments, almost throughout the movie, that were undeniably funny, while some other moments either made me chuckle or cringe. Some members of the cast have their funny moments, especially Richard Ayoyade's scene-stealing performance. But overall, this movie just didn't quite impress me, and I really didn't get into the comedy in this one. As for the cast, each and every character is completely stereotypical, from Vaughn's man-child overprotective father, Hill's bad-ass speaking mamma's boy, Ayoyade's comic relief dude with a funny accent, and Stiller's awkward man with relationship problems involving having children. The plot holes are completely excruciating, the dialogue is badly forced, the pacing is a little too quick, the amount of "f-bombs" are considered unnecessary, and the whole alien subplot is a little too goofy. There's also a lot of predictable clichés from here and there, the action scenes are tensionless, and Will Forte delivers one of the most annoying performances in the history of film, as a bumbling cop against the watch. Everything was just all over the place, nothing really went appropriately planned here. Although "The Watch" is a disappointing paper-thin gimmick, it's still pretty entertaining for the most part, and again, I laughed at a couple of parts. But overall, "The Watch" is a forgettable and disappointing movie that still has it's moments. "The Watch", in my review, "occasionally funny, but sadly unimpressive".

I really liked that the trailer did not reveal too much of the "story" behind this movie. But I still get if people are disappointed in this. It's hard as I have written before to get people behind a comedy. And comedies that go for the "R-rating" are even tougher to sell. I still thought this was funny and different from what I expected (although the German title did give away more of the central story than the mentioned trailer).

Ben Stiller plays it straight and you can see the morality that lies within the movie ... within the first 5 minutes of it. That doesn't take the fun out of it and the main 4 characters are having so much fun, it does translate on the screen. If you don't like the trailer though, do not watch the movie