'THE WATCH'

'THE WATCH' (R) (2 STARS)

Written by Seth Rogen, Jared Stern and Evan Goldberg
Directed by Akiva Schaffer
Actors: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Billy Crudup, Will Forte, Doug Jones, Rosemary Dewitt

I kept thinking about the classic 1984 comedy "Ghostbusters" while watching the dissapointing "The Watch". It isn't fair to compare this movie to that classic but something funny could have come out of "The Watch". It starts out pretty well for the first 15 minutes reminding me of something like "Up the Creek" where we are introduced to all the characters quickly. There is only a 5 minute exposition and then we are off to the races!

We are in a small town in Ohio where four men band together to form a neighborhood watch after a Costco security guard was killed by something. The four men are very different and are played by Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade. The four do find out that it was aliens that killed the guard. Now the watch has to protect their little town and the Earth. There are scattered laughs throughout "The Watch" but a lot of dead spots. Stiller, Vaughn and Hill try their best and do their schtick that they have done in other movies. This is not their shining moment and this is another squandering of a killer comedy lineup.

I didn't expect a classic like "Ghostbusters" and I am afraid that 84 classic is a one in a lifetime deal for a comedy mixed with special effects. The aliens look similiar to other aliens in alien movies, now wouldn't you want to make them look weirder and funnier? So I didn't like Jonah Hill's character and Stiller and Vaughn are boring. What I did like were two funny performances that belonged in a funnier movie. Richard Ayoade plays the fourth member who is British and African American. He steals the movie away from Hill, Vaughn and Stiller because he doesn't mug for the camera like the others which makes him slyer and funnier. I also loved the great comic performance by Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) again laying the comedy down better than the big three along with Ayoade.

"The Watch" is lazy, uninspired and a waste of good talent. It also doesn't help that the movie comes out around the time of the shooting of Trayvon Martin. If the movie had more imagination instead of sex and dick jokes we wouldn't mind. There are little corners of the movie where real comedy is trying to get out but everyone except for Ayoade and Crudup look like they are phoning it in and stealing a paycheck. Why can't anyone ever make something as inspired as "Ghostbusters"? I am begging someone to do it!

P.S. For better movies like this check out "Super 8", "Ghostbusters" and even "The Burbs" which is a guilty pleasure of mine.