The Watch Review – is it worth watching?

Despite starring some of the greatest comedic actors in American film history, The Watch just really isn’t worth watching. With a mediocre plot and terrible script, the film fails to present us with anything new or exciting.

Co-written by Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express) and directed by Akiva Shaffer (Hot Rod), The Watch sees a serious small town Ohio man Evan (Ben Stiller, Zoolander), form a neighbourhood watch after his Costco co-worker (Antonio Guzman) is mysteriously murdered.

Evan is joined by Bob (Vince Vaughn, Wedding Crashers) an overprotective father, Franklin (Jonah Hill, Super Bad) an aspiring cop rejected by the local police and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade, The I.T crowd) the random guy who at first appears to be in it just for the kicks and perks.

With names listed as those aforementioned you would expect the film to be worth the time and money spent – but disappointingly its not. You can’t blame the acting for the flop film, the actors were convincing enough – they were just unlucky with the script given. Some might argue older comedic actors such as Vaughn and Stiller are now out of the game, but considering what they had to work with (bad script, plot and all) this isn’t true. Even the freshness of young actor Hill and the random throw in of popular British actor Ayoade couldn’t save the disastrous film.

The Watch Source SFTV

The story-line would fail to seize or thrill anyone expecting to see a laugh out loud action-comedy. It’s poorly written and lazy, it’s as though it was written half-assed. Don’t be surprised that most of the time you find yourself understimulated and unmoved by each characters personal sub-plot.

Despite the film being based around aliens and a group of men forming a neighbourhood watch, there is hardly any crime that is dealt with throughout the film. The film lacks expected battles scenes between people and aliens and sometimes you forget that their even a threat or part of it. The only real battle is towards the end of the film but the build up to it fails to be suspenseful at all, and the battle well, it’s over before you know it and doesn’t appear tough or convincing.

The popular actors, occasionally funny one-lines and few random unexpected gags make the film bearable, but overall it’s simply a dud. As you watch the film you anticipate a point where it will become exciting and interesting, but unfortunately that point never comes. The film could have been this era’s ‘Ghostbusters’ but instead fails to be anything even short of remarkable.

The Watch is a miss and you’ll find that the only ‘watch’ you will be paying attention to during this film will be the one on your wrist.

Rating – 2.5/5