The Watch Review

Director: Akiva Schaffer

Cast: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Richard Ayoade, Jonah Hill, Rosemarie DeWitt.

Running time: 102 minutes

Certificate: 15

Synopsis: Local supermarket manager Evan (Ben Stiller) lives a normal happy life in a middle class suburb. But when the store security guard is brutally murdered, he sets up a neighbourhood watch to find his friends killer. But The Watch soon realise their enemy may not be from this planet…

Like TED before it, THE WATCH is a funny film that is ultimately let down by it’s sheer immaturity. The key themes seem to be ‘Dick and cum jokes get funnier the more you tell them,’ ‘Ladies are lovely and need looking after’ and ‘Guns are cool.’

It’s strength lies with the chemistry of the four stars. Stiller is on auto pilot as Evan, playing the ‘well meaning middle class everyman thrust into a ridiculous situation’ he does in practically every film. It’s a role he perfected in the ‘MEET THE PARENTS’ and ‘A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM’ franchises, and he does just fine with it here. Vince Vaughn is enjoyable as the brash, overly protective dad who just wants to hang with the guys, however the film belongs to Hill and Ayoade, who play the odd balls of the group. Hill is the emotionally troubled wannabe cop who is more than willing to take one for the team while Ayoade gives, what will likely be, a star making performance as Jamarcus. Sure he’s basically playing Moss from THE IT CROWD, but most of America won’t have seen that and we love it over here, so what’s the harm? Their improvised, smutty lad-chats are really good fun, for a while. But even their great comic timing can’t keep the words ‘cum’ and ‘prick’ funny for almost two bloody hours. But dammit, they sure try.

There are obvious comparisons with GHOSTBUSTERS to be made, with a bunch of four regular guys (one of whom is black and whose name doesn’t come ahead of the title like the other three) who form a group to take on a non-human menace and are not trusted by the authorities, in this case the hilarious Will Forte as the inept local sheriff. However, it’s more like another great 80s comedy, THE BURBS. A group of friends in a small community in the suburbs think something grisly is going on in their neighbourhood and decide to take a stand without understanding who they’re fighting. Like that film, there’s a creepy neighbour, here played with relish by Billy Crudup. He is almost reptilian in appearance and a peculiar joy to watch, though it’s very clear what’s coming with his character. Coming being the appropriate word.

This is all fine and makes for some decent comedy, but it’s a drag to see the only two female characters seen as ‘lovely things who need to be protected.’ We know nothing about Vaughn’s daughter other than that she’s pretty, likes to kiss boys and her dad thinks he must protect her from it, while Evan’s wife needs to be emotionally cradled by her husband. She does get to join in with the shooty fun during the denouement, but only briefly. As another character is injured, it must be the woman who stays to look after him, because women are good at caring, while the men go off and do the important heroic stuff, because men are better at guns and swearing.

But writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have a modus operandi; give the guys funny stuff, don’t worry too much about female characters and rely heavily on the audience forgiving the puerile nature of it all.

Never the less, it’s funny stuff, if ultimately forgetful. Suggested viewing would be to make like the characters; watch with friends, beer and pizza. Laugh at the constant dick and cum jokes and enjoy the guilty feeling that something so crude and crass can make you smile so much. Enjoy, finish then let it escape your memory, like a wank. Done with a dick. Making cum.

 You can watch THE WATCH from Friday the 24th of August