Watch It

1993
R
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

665

YOUR RATING

Lili Taylor, Suzy Amis, Peter Gallagher, John C. McGinley, Tom Sizemore, and Jon Tenney in Watch It (1993)

Play trailer0:31

1 Video

6 Photos

Comedy

Mike, Danny, and Rick are grown men who share a house in Chicago. They take on a fourth house mate, John, who is Mike's estranged first cousin. John's welcome to the house is crowned by his ... Read allMike, Danny, and Rick are grown men who share a house in Chicago. They take on a fourth house mate, John, who is Mike's estranged first cousin. John's welcome to the house is crowned by his introduction to a game of perpetual pranks called "Watch it!"Mike, Danny, and Rick are grown men who share a house in Chicago. They take on a fourth house mate, John, who is Mike's estranged first cousin. John's welcome to the house is crowned by his introduction to a game of perpetual pranks called "Watch it!"

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

665

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 0:31

Watch It

Photos5

User reviews10

6.2665

Featured reviews

8HotToastyRag

Totally true to life

This movie, though aptly titled for the story, could have a subtitle of "Men Are Jerks". It's about a group of young men, roommates, who have been playing extremely elaborate pranks on each other since college, all ending with the phrase, "Watch it!" I've pretty much dated every guy in this movie, so it was a little painful to watch. And, I was going through a breakup at the time - but miraculously, I was able to watch it as unbiasedly as possible. Unfortunately, it's pretty true to life. Guys in their late twenties, who aren't looking to settle down, tend to treat women badly. They tend to lie, cheat, and justify their behavior because all their friends do it, too.

Jon Tenney has just hurt Suzy Amis with his chronic infidelity, and she rebounds with Peter Gallagher. Peter starts off incredibly sweet and attentive, but once she starts to fall for him, he cools off. At one point, he doesn't even make a date with her for three weeks. As they're cuddling in bed together, he tells her their relationship is going to be temporary - claiming that he thinks it's important to be honest with her. If that were the case, he would have "been honest" before he got her into bed. John C. McGinley comes across as a jerk, naturally drawing in nice girls who think they can reform him. He treats them like dirt and shirks the blame because they should have known what they were getting. Cynthia Stevenson is a classic nice girl, a schoolteacher who would prefer an all-night conversation rather than a one-night stand. John hooks her in; will she be the one who actually does reform him? Or is he a jerk through and through?

It's a comedy, but it's a bit tough to watch, especially if you've just finished dating one of these guys. It's definitely geared more towards the male audience. Unfortunately, the main message of the film is completely true: nice girls are drawn towards jerks because if they reform them, it makes them feel special and unique. Jerks make nice girls feel slightly unsure of themselves, which presents a challenge; and occasionally they'll appear to show their underbellies, or they'll say something sensitive, which motivates the girls to hang in there and hope the rare treatment becomes more frequent. It would be great if us nice girls finally learned our lesson. But, when we start to fall for the Peter Gallaghers, the ones who swear on their mothers that they're nice guys, they turn out to be just like the John C. McGinleys. What's a girl to do?

10heego

I hope this movie comes out on DVD

I love this movie. It's a movie meant to be seen, and it is one that you can throw in the machine to "watch it" anytime to lighten one's spirits. Relationships are not always an easy thing to keep in check between men and women, and lots of things can happen. "Watch It" helps keep one on his/ her toes. Values and Morales are questioned. Attitudes and behaviors create reactions that create pathways of opportunities. Which way do I between right, wrong, and the unknown? I do not think that the movie got all the credit it deserves, and that I hope others get the chance to see this film. Please get this movie to DVD or better, because VHS is the past, and this movie is meant to be seen forever.

10david-368-502339

This movie defined my twenties

One of the greatest relationship/player films that no one has ever seen! A college friend of mine turned me on to this unknown gem about 25 years ago, and it became the instant cult hit with my friendship group. I have probably seen this movie about 25 times (every new friend had to watch it, and then QUOTE Rick Miller's Theory of Women, before being fully accepted into the group). I have this film memorized now, but to find it anywhere (besides VHS) is a futile quest.

While living in Nashville, I met a woman who actually worked on the set! She said that much of the film was written hours before filming, and it has that sense of loose improv but still some of the best comic writing in a long time. The chemistry between characters is impeccable, and the conversational style matched my friendship base perfectly, so we were all hooked. We even started doing Watch It practical jokes as a group.

If you are a fan of movies like Swingers or Skin Deep, this is perfect to add to the lexicon. And like Vince Vaughn, it probably was a boost from a casting perspective for Sizemore, Gallagher, and Mcginley.

i_r_c

A Glimpse of Early Careers

While bored, I dug up an old VHS copy of watch it that I haven't watched in close to ten years. While watching it, I began to notice the beginnings of some actors we see in all sorts of TV and movies. We see Cynthia Stevenson before she grew long hair and became the token actress to play mothers. It's odd to see her in this young age. We also see a nice glimpse of John C. Mcginley between Wall Street and Scrubs. He's a great actor, and we see more depth in him than in prior roles. In Wall Street, he was barely more than scenery. We also see Peter Gallagher before he got stuck in the scenery actor rut. A year later, we saw him for mere moments in Hudsucker Proxy. We see him everywhere, but despite his talent, we hardly see him in lead roles. I really enjoyed the film.

10preppy-3

Excellent movie about relationships

John (Peter Gallagher) travels to Chicgao to reconnect with cousin Mike (Jon Tenney). He moves into the house Mike shares with Rich (John C. McGinley) and Danny (Tom Sizemore). John meets and falls in love with Ann (Suzy Amis) who dated Mike but dumped him for cheating on her. Mike finds out and might want her back. Meanwhile Rich is dating Ellen (Cynthia Stevenson) but can't commit. Also Watch It is an immature game the has the guys play practical jokes on each other. Lili Taylor also plays a small but important role.

This film was just great. This is easily one of the most honest films I've even seen on relationships between men and women. The dialogue is frank and dead on accurate. McGinley's view on women especially has to be heard to be (dis)believed! The acting is all excellent especially Tenney turning in a great low-key performance. The only debits--the practical jokes the guys play on each other are unfunny and implausible (especially one involving a car) and it cops out at the ending. Still it has more moments of honesty and truth than hundreds of other Hollywood movies on relationships. This was thrown away by its distributor and has a lousy title but it's well worth searching out. Funny, honest and just great! A 10.

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Trivia
While much of the movie is filmed in Chicago, the finale "watch it" moment at the opera house was film at The Rialto Theater in Joliet, IL about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. The scene where Danny & Rick are at a bar and meet up with two women was also shot in Joliet at a restaurant called The Keg.

Quotes
Rick Miller: Ya know something, Big Time... you're letting this girl thing get way out of hand. I mean, not for nothing. But you, my friend, are the one who's sitting in the driver's seat.
John: I don't follow.
Rick Miller: Well, of course you don't, but that's why I'm here. Allow me, if you will, to familiarize you with the Rick Miller theory on women. Now, if you have to go to the bathroom, or anything, you should go now. Okay, look... the only woman a guy like you should have anything to do with is the one who has already been divorced. Now, stick with me, stick with me... cause the problem here is... that you're a nice guy... and young, single women are not attracted to nice guys. They're attracted to guys that dump on them. It's true, I have no idea why, but it's fear of rejection, poor self-worth, whatever, but the fact of the matter is that young single women find themselves most attracted to guys that, who are, for all intents and purposes... assholes. And what's more, these women think that if they just love these assholes enough, that sooner or later they'll stop being assholes and start bringing home candy and flowers and shit. And taken on a grand scale, these women think that if they just marry the assholes, the joys of married life will mellow them and cause them... to change.
[laughs]
Rick Miller: Now... you and I, the three of us, know the chances of something like that happening are, right?
[whispering]
Rick Miller: but women are clueless, they have no idea, so they go ahead and marry the assholes anyway. Then right about 6 months after the wedding day, they wake up one morning... and they realize that this guy snoring on the pillow next to them, not only is he still an asshole, but things are looking pretty goddamn certain that he's going to remain that way!
Danny: And that's when they call their lawyers: and those assholes start feeding off th- those other assholes.
Rick Miller: It's just a matter of time, but this is where you come into play, Big Time. Because now that a woman has experienced living with a slug, she will go out of her way to land a nice guy... like you! And you'll be appreciated for being who you are. Plus, of course, she comes with a car and money that she fleeced from the previous guy.
John: Nice theory, but if it's true, how come you're not with a divorced woman?
Rick Miller: Excuse Me... Daniel, am I being too subtle here? Because I'm one of those assholes! C'mon, I'm playing my role perfectly in the grand scheme of things.
Danny: I can vouch for that, John, Rick is a bonifide fucking asshole.
Rick Miller: Oh, it's true, I don't ever walk on eggshells. I say exactly what's on my mind and I'm always the one who's in control, and you wanna know what? No matter how big a jerk I am and no matter how selfishly I go about getting what I want, for some reason, they still want me... I am human cocaine! But we're getting off the subject here, because you see, fact of the matter is, Michael doesn't give a shit. You, however... you are in love with the woman. Oh come on, will ya, I live with ya, remember You're not eating well, you hardly ever sleep, ya got all the symptoms. You are in love with Annie Madison and it is scaring the shit out of you. And if you remember one thing from our conversation out here, please let it be this: The moment you start loving a woman, you can begin counting the days until that bitch walks right out the front door on you.
[Rick looks at Danny]
Rick Miller: Yes, Daniel?
Danny: I find this very illuminating right now, Rick, you are on a roll... please continue.
Rick Miller: Right, well ya gotta cheer up here, Big Time, cause fact of the matter here is you couldn't be sitting in a prettier position.
John: How do ya figure?
Rick Miller: Because I know Michael and I know Ann, and Ann's not a masochist. She's not gonna put up with Michael's crap for long... I give it eight months... max. And then she's gonna realize what a super find you are, and she's gonna come crawling back and you will finally be appreciated for being the nice guy that you are. Plus, in the meantime, she will have spent time with Michael, and of course that means she will have been exposed to such a wide variety of sexual positions and perv...
Danny: Rick! Cool it, will ya! He... he gets the picture.
John: That's pretty well thought out... but angry Rick. Very, very angry. Who broke Rick's heart? Did somebody break Rick's heart?