The Watch

In an early scene from The Watch, a solemn Ben Stiller drives away in his car with a Spanish version of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" playing in the background. This hilarious moment, a nod to Mike Nichols' classic The Graduate, is a symbol of hope for the hour and a half to follow, an indication that we might be in for a smart and memorable film. Unfortunately, the scene turns out to be nothing more than a fluke, a misleading sign for not delight but discontent. Despite all the ingredients of a great comedy, The Watch ultimately falls flat, proving pretty, well, meh.

Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller, Richard Ayoade, and Vince Vaughn

On paper, The Watch seems like a shoo-in for success. It brings together some of the industry's funniest actors—Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and British comedian Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd)—with director Akiva Schaffer in a ridiculous plot: Four men from a small Ohio town start a neighborhood watch group to escape their monotonous lives and suddenly find themselves defending Earth from an alien invasion. But Schaffer doesn't execute like he did in his underrated first feature Hot Rod, this time relying too heavily on typecast performances and vulgarity (oh the liberties of an R rating) rather than eccentric characters and an interesting story with memorable scenes.

Only a handful of scenes sticks with you—a bad indicator for any film. From a motorcycle jump at the local swimming pool to several fights between father and son to an endless list of one-liners, this certainly wasn't the case for Schaffer's Hot Rod. That film, a cult classic in many circles, had enough unforgettable scenes to keep the conversation going. Not so The Watch. Given its big-named cast, it will probably earn a lot of money, but who cares if you're going to forget all about it in a matter of days, maybe even hours?

Skater kid (Johnny Pemberton) gets the better of Evan and Franklin

Don't blame the cast. For the most part, everyone performs well with what they're given, mostly drawing laughs—except for Hill, who only distinguishes himself in one scene. But Schaffer, working with screenwriters Jared Stern, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg, doesn't give his actors much to work with. The characters seem like humdrum rehashes of characters from the past films—especially Stiller, whose character, Evan, feels like a bland mix of Greg Focker and Tony Perkis of Heavy Weights. In The Watch, none of the characters are droll enough to remember; there's no Derek Zoolander or any of the sort of oddballs found in Hot Rod, like Andy Samberg's Rod Kimble or Danny McBride's Rico.

The film also fails to create memorable scenes or dialogue. Think about your favorite comedies: How many lines can you quote from them? How many sequences can you replay in your head? There's little to none of that here. Instead, The Watch settles for crassness instead of being sharp or quirky, hinging all the punch lines on profanity and perversion. If you think 21 Jump Street included too many penis jokes, be prepared for even more here, as the film elevates a dumb idea to an actual plot point.

Director Akiva Schaffer dropped the ball on this 'Watch'

Worst of all is that none of it adds up to anything of value. Though the best comedies entertain us at the least, they also leave an imprint on us politically, morally, and perhaps spiritually, criticizing culture and illuminating truth about the human experience. The Watch does end on a superficial, clichéd note about friendship and community, but the story itself mostly runs contrary to these concepts.

Still, there are a few strengths. Stiller and Vaughn still find a way to make us laugh and care about their characters. And Will Forte, as a local police officer, brings an idiosyncratic element to the mix and is actually the funniest character of all—one you would find in, say, Hot Rod. But such strengths, including that promising allusion to The Graduate, are hardly enough to redeem this Watch.

Talk About It

1. The Watch includes profanity, nudity, sexual references, and more. How should Christians approach such content? Should we avoid it, embrace it or what?
2. What makes for a good comedy? Does all comedy have to be smart and satirical?
3. The theme of The Watch is meant to be friendship. What does the film say about the subject? Do you agree with the message?
4. How do you define true friendship? Why is it so important?

The Family Corner

The Watch is rated R for some strong sexual content including references, pervasive language, and violent images. From profanity (dozens of f-words) to sexual references (penis jokes and more) to nudity (the characters accidently go to an orgy) to violence (skinless corpses and aliens murdering folks), it's all here.

Photos © 20th Century Fox

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