Review of The Watch (2012) by Mrmoviebuff — 27 Jun 2016

'The Watch' is a desperate comedy, desperate for laughs and desperate for any reaction that relates to shock thanks to its unnecessarily crude and vulgar themes within its comedy material. It's a comedy that doesn't know how to place the plot and the jokes within the same context, so they do the best they can to try and combine the two which adds up to something uneven.

Ben Stiller stars as a senior manager of a Costco store, and one night after he leaves when his shift is over, one of his co-workers/friend stays over and ends up being killed by some strange extra-terrestrial being. After hearing about this, the police try to investigate the situation, but when they can't find any leads, they put the investigation in limbo. Stiller's character decides to form a "Neighborhood Watch" which consists of three men including; Bob (Vince Vaughn), Franklin (Jonah Hill) and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade).

One night, during their watch, they discover something strange, a metallic orb of some kind that is also a dangerous weapon and seems to come from anywhere but Earth. During their time as the Neighborhood Watch, several more people in their town are mysteriously killed, and they are trying their best to get down on the situation.

The movie does well with its lead cast members of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade...these four men have fun with their comedic chemistry, and work well to make any audience member laugh. There are some hilarious scenes in there, but the jokes do fall very flat very quickly. Considering that the movie is about four men tracking down extra-terrestrial species, it's a wonder as to why there are so many crude, vulgar and sometimes offensive jokes. The material is written by Jared Stern, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and it seems that they must have been side-tracked into thinking that more adult humor is needed. Subtlety is important sometimes, the biggest mistake this movie makes is going overboard.

Overall, this isn't a bad comedy, just more of a misguided one. It would have been a lot funnier if the jokes were dialed down instead of constantly bashing us over the head as to how dirty the material can get.