‘The Watch’ Review

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The Watch is the latest R-rated comedy from the director of Hot Rod and Lonely Island group member Akiva Schaffer.  This is Shaffer’s second feature film, and it’s clear from the onset, that he is still a little wet behind the ears. While not nearly as painful as Hot Rod, The Watch isn’t able to drum up too many laughs, and is often nothing more than a bland science-fiction flick. This is a serious disappointment considering Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express) wrote the script.

The Watch stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade as a ragtag group of neighborhood watch members, who discover their quiet Ohio town is being overrun by alien invaders.  The group must work together to find this alien menace, save their town, and possibly the planet.

The film combines equal parts comedy and sci-fi, with some gory violence sprinkled in for good measure. While the plot seems adequate enough, the only thing that sets it apart is the four leads. If you take them out of the equation, all you have left is a less interesting and uninspired version of Body Snatchers or Attack the Block. The creature design was your basic giant bug-looking thing, nothing special, although their slimy anatomy did provide a few laughs.

Which, unfortunately, is all you’ll get with The Watch. Other than what you see in the trailer, there aren’t many funny moments in the film.  While the four main characters work well off each other, with the exception of Vince Vaughn, they don’t really have anything funny to say. Stiller and Hill bring nothing to the table, and Ayoade had potential, but a ridiculous plot point ruined his character.

The main problems of the film lie in sub par directing and a terribly mediocre script.  The film attempts to be over the top, mixing in lines of vulgarity and violence, but then inexplicably tries to create serious family moments, by giving us little bits of backstory on the troubled lives of the main characters.  While this seems like it was intended to give the characters and film more depth, it doesn’t accomplish this, and feels tacked on and pointless.

One good thing that may come of this, is a bigger US presence for Richard Ayoade. In addition to being a solid comedic actor, he also directed Submarine, one of last year’s best films. So, let’s just hope that there’s a silver lining to this ultimately forgettable venture.

In a promising summer of a few hits and many misses, The Watch firmly falls into the “miss” category. Sure, it will provide a few laughs, but in the end, it’s just mediocre. Fans will most assuredly leave the theater disappointed, especially because of all the wasted talent used in this film.