Predicted Rating: 2.5 Stars
Directed by: Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod). Starring: Ben Stiller (Zoolander), Vince Vaughn (Old School), Jonah Hill (Superbad) and Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd)
Traumatised by the death of his beloved security guard of the Costco he manages, Evan (Stiller), starts a neighbourhood watch group to try and catch the killer. He enlists the help of family man Bob (Vaughn), recent divorcee Jamarcus (Ayoade), and high school/police academy dropout Franklin (Hill). Things take a turn for the worse when the group discovers that their quiet little town of Glenview, Ohio is the epicentre for a imminent alien invasion. It is now up to this unlikely team to save humanity from destruction.
It has been a while since I have watched a new comedy movie. The last one was Ted a few months ago, which was surprisingly good (Snow White was a joke but I wouldn't call it a comedy). As a result I was really looking forward to chilling back and laughing my head off. Unfortunately I was bitterly let down. The best modern comedies tend to follow a solid formula. The first half hour or so is filled with one-liners and shear stupidity that has you on the floor in hysterics perfectly setting up for the overall story for the rest of the movie. The Watch had the potential to do exactly this but failed to do so. There were stages where it threatened to break open with a flourish of one-liners but it failed to deliver. At some points I was making up my own jokes that I thought would fit well but just never came. It tried to be funny by repeating the F word, which is just a childish way to get some cheap laughs. Jonah Hill started to try about half way through the movie but it was too little too late and his influence was almost stifled.
To go with the short-falls in making a good comedy film, there is also a huge waste of talent here. It really wasn't well directed, which is a surprise as Akiva Schaffer is a pivotal member of one of my favourite comedy trio's, The Lonely Island. The acting talent was also not very well utilised. The four main guys feature in some of my favourite movies/ tv shows, with Stiller in Zoolander, Vaughn in Old School, Hill in Superbad and Ayoade in the IT Crowd but none of them are given a creative licence to show off what they can give. Stiller and Vaughn just appear awkward and lack chemistry. Ayoade, to tell you the truth, seems like he has never acted before. I know this may have been intentional but it didn't work. Hill was by far the best of the four but it was no where near his best performance. However, the most disappointing part of the film was the script. It was penned by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen who wrote Superbad, which is my all time favourite script. It is so simple but so relatable and unique. The Watch was very cliche' and just really never took off. On paper it was a good idea, but it just never took off.
There were a few things I did like but I really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel. There were a couple of references to Predator and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. However, both references came within 30 seconds of each other. It took me a while to think of another thing I liked but all I could think of was Vince Vaughn's John Mellencamp shirt. Yes it really was that boring. On and around this topic, one thing that was unbelievably annoying was the product placement. If you played a drinking game where you took a drink every time Costco was mentioned, you would bee absolutely hammered by the end.
Overall a very disappointing attempt. In my opinion stay home and watch a decent comedy like Superbad or Monty Python and save the time and effort.
1.5 Stars
Next Week: Taking a "mental health" day on Thursday so I can see what could be both the best and worst movie of the year, Bait 3D.
but much more funny
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