The Watch (2012)

After watching the very dark Ill Manors I really was in the need for a lighter movie and looking at the movies that were playing at the cinema directly after it I decided to see The Watch. It’s got Ben Stiller in it, so I expected it to provide a funny hour and a half. I had not read reviews of it, so went in completely blind. Was my gamble a waste of time or well worth it?

Ben Stiller plays Evan, who’s the manager of a Costco store. He’s also extremely active in the community and when one of his employees is found murdered he decides to start a neighbourhood watch. 3 people respond to it (played by Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade) who are all more interested in doing fun stuff than patrolling the neighbourhood. Eventually they do start patrolling and uncover something big.

I didn’t go see the watch for the story, but to laugh and unfortunately I hardly did. There were lots of jokes that didn’t work for me and every comedy has those, but with the Watch there were way too many that missed. I also never felt that the threat they were facing was a real one and the movie has a subplot about Stiller’s character not being able to have kids that felt out of place.

This movie feels like a big commercial for Costco, a store which I don’t know but apparently has everything you might want to buy under one roof. With so many comedians starring you might expect The Watch to have all the laughs you’d expect in one movie, but it doesn’t manage to deliver those and you should go elsewhere if you want to stock up on them. I really felt I should have gone home instead of watching this.

Score: 4