Review of The Watch (2012) by Shyla B — 02 Jun 2013

If you enjoy a good comedy and you hear about a film that's goings to be staring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill - some of the biggest draws in film today - you'd think it would be a receipt for a funny, enjoyable entertainment. Unfortunately, if you decide to see The Watch, you'll find out it's nothing more than a receipt for disaster.

From producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Knocked Up) comes a film, which was originally called The Neighborhood Watch (changed due to the Trayvon Martin neighborhood watch shooting), about four men forming a neighborhood watch after a murder takes place at the local Costco. Evan (Stiller), along with his fellow suburbanites, Bob (Vaughn), Franklin (Hill), and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade), come together to solve the crime. After various leads, the foursome discover alien beings are killing the locals and set out on a quest to save their town (and planet, apparently) from annihilation.

It's possible that disaster is a harsh term to use when describing this film because it's not that these characters didn't mesh well on screen, it's the fact that the plot was so rushed and jumbled that you never really get the sense that these guys could ever be friends at all. Had the filmmakers focused more on the overall quality of the relationships/plot itself and not so much on cheap vulgar jokes or making it into one big product placement ad for Costco, Coca-cola, Budweiser, ect. - it would have been a whole lot more enjoyable. Even 3D technology (and all of its lack of sales) gets a shameless plug in this film.

In the future, this film could turn out to be a classic for the fans of these actors, but at the moment, there's just too many things working against the success of this film. Between the Trayvon Martin controversy and the recent string of blockbuster releases, this film will be considered an overall failure. Whoever decided to put this film out the week after The Dark Knight Rises should have their head examined and will more than likely get a nice ego check when the box office numbers come out. Putting this film's release off by as much as a month or more would have made it much more successful.

If you had high expectations here, you're sure to be let down.