Movie: The Watch
Director: Akiva Schaffer
Cast: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade
Rating: **
Even if you’re in desperate need to watch a brainless comedy just for the heck for it, I wouldn’t recommend Stiller-starrer “The Watch”, which is most definitely one of the worst comedies of the year. If you were to make a giant list with the names of some talented actors who’ve been part of nonsensical comedy flicks over the years, then don’t forget to include these names: Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan and Jonah Hill. Latest to jump on this bandwagon is Richard Ayoade, the dude from “The IT Crowd”.
According to Evan, Glenview, a small town in Ohio, is one of the best places in the world. It’s here, Evan, happily married to Abby and a owner of a departmental store called Costco, has immense popularity via his over active societal life which includes managing a running club, book club and many such things. All is well until one night, Costco watchman Antonio Guzman is mysteriously killed. Following the murder of Guzman, Evan sets up “The Neighborhood Watch” with the help of Bob, Franklin and Jamarcus, to nab the killer of Guzman.
What begins as an excuse to run away from boring mundane life to be on “The Watch” squad turns into an earth-defending mission from aliens. Can the quartet stop the oncoming alien attack forms the rest of the story?
It could’ve been a wonderful no-brainer comedy a la “The Ted”, “Tower Heist” or even “The Sitter”, had only the writers had a logical explanation to the alien attack. Needless to say, thanks to the growing worldwide popularity of cheesy one-liners, make the film even more awful and annoying. Come to think of it, and you’d be surprised to know that, “The Watch” is about ‘bromance’ that gradually gets changed into an alien invasion story. But, unfortunately, the film doesn’t succeed in entertaining from any aspect of the stories discussed above.
Films, especially comedies, struggle to arouse interest when they have too many sub-plots. Ideally, the makers should’ve focused on developing or improvising on the male bonhomie of the quartet, instead of trying to fit in numerous sub-plots such as Evan’s struggling marital life or Bob’s weak relationship with his daughter. Eventually, none of these plots tie together or attempt to make any sense at any juncture in the film.
The performances are clichéd and the actor’s potential is completely wasted. The quartet forms the most annoying band of friends one could’ve ever watched on screen. While, Ben, merely satisfies with his usual edgy melodramatic performance, Vince aka Bob as foul-mouthed, bad-tempered father and friend strives hard to make the most un-comical moments into funny ones. Jonah showed signs of maturity in few of his last films such as “21 Jump Street” and “Moneyball”, but unfortunately fails miserably in this film with irksome performance. Lastly, comedian Richard Ayoade, the annoying member of the group, is the ideal replacement to the writer Seth Rogen.
