Review of The Watch (2012) by Nathan C — 03 Feb 2013

A comedy with so much wasted potential that it just feels generic. What could've been killer just feels very ordinary and rarely all that amusing.

The most involved guy in the community decides to form a neighborhood watch after tragedy strikes. He and his three newfound bros get involved in this, and it's revealed that their town is ground zero for an alien invasion. What do they do about it? Maneuver through a plethora of crude sexual jokes and hang out half the time until the real threat begins to emerge.

Not only does this movie suffer from a lack of freshness in its humor, but it also cannot decide what genre it wants to be. Does it want to be a comedy about the perils of middle age? Does it want to be a sci-fi action flick? Does it want to be a gory horror movie with creatures roaming about? The tone was unclear about this, so we're left with a mixed bag -- and much disappointment. The storyline is conventional and done very lazily. I also can't help but feel that "Ghostbusters" and "Evolution" did this concept a thousand times better. The jokes tend to misfire often and the direction can get a tad too serious and heavy-handed at times, especially with its middle-age melodrama and the R rating. How can a cast this great bring nothing new -- and fun -- to the table?

The casting is great, not only for the appealing leads but also the neat cameos, especially by R. Lee Ermey and Billy Crudup. The neighborhood looks fairly pretty. The creature effects were cool enough that they belonged entirely in a better movie. There were a few chuckles here and there, I had to admit.

Overall, "The Watch" was not really worth watching for when you're looking for comedies. Unless you were too young to have seen "Ghostbusters" or "Evolution" but you're old enough to want your alien invasion flicks raunchy and penile.