The Watch (2012)
Directed by Akiva Schaffer
Four everyday suburban guys come together as an excuse to escape their humdrum lives one night a week. But when they accidentally discover that their town has become overrun with aliens posing as ordinary suburbanites, they have no choice but to save their neighborhood – and the world – from total extermination.
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3 films that influenced The Watch
What critics say influenced The Watch
Sadly, "The Watch" never quite matches up with the comedic perfection of "Ghostbusters" in spite of clearly modeling itself after the Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd classic.
Such is the crippling identity problem of The Watch, a movie that desperately wants to be Ghostbusters -- where funny actors confront supernatural happenings -- but doesn’t understand what made Ivan Reitman’s classic tick.
There are times during "The Watch"?solitary moments, but moments just the same?when the film feels as if it's edging reverently into blissful sci-fi/comedy territory previously occupied by 1984's one-two punch of "Ghostbusters" and "Gremlins."
The script, by Jared Stern and frequent writing partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, follows the Ghostbusters template closely, but they don't have anyone of Bill Murray's caliber to punch up the jokes.
Director Ivan Reitman tried to repeat the trick twice, with Ghostbusters 2 and Evolution , only to fall flat both times, and among other imitators, only Men In Black has struck a similarly effective balance.
The original "Ghostbusters" and "Men in Black" walked this line beautifully and were alternately hilarious and thrilling films.
It might have been possible to pass off The Watch as a rip-off of Men in Black if two forgettable sequels hadn't claimed that distinction.
All of it seems predictable, because it's all been done before and better whether it's in any of the "Men in Black" movies or "Attack the Block" or "Hot Fuzz," leaving one scratching their head how so many genuinely funny people couldn't figure out how to make this one work.
Real-life horrors aside, “The Watch” feels like what might have happened if Hill, instead of crafting the much-funnier “21 Jump Street” (which likewise incorporated N.W.A's “Straight Outta Compton”) had transposed a story of wannabe cops onto “Men in Black.”
…concept had payoff in Men in Black; here, it's so ridiculously easy to figure out who the aliens are that there's no inherent comedy in it.
What's onscreen feels as half-assed and juvenile as it was probably always envisioned to be, suggesting an umpteenth retelling of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" by way of "The Hangover," or perhaps a far less inspired version of "Attack the Block" transplanted to small-town Ohio.
The team achieves little more than sitting in a car sipping beer before their Hardy Boys meets The Hangover (2009) investigations are shaken up by extraterrestrial encounters and — naturally — the discovery of a bowling ball that fires massive blue laser beams.
It’s The Hangover meets Attack the Block .
Call it The Hangover hangover, which decrees that nothing can be too gross... unless it results in an NC-17.