The Watch

Plot synopsis:
In the town of Glenview, Ohio, Evan Trautwig (Ben Stiller) is an active participant in the community and senior manager of the local Costco store. His life is disrupted when the store's night security guard is murdered. The local police have no leads, and show no interest in investigating further. Determined to find the killer and bring him to justice, Evan decides to form a neighborhood watch. However, he only manages to recruit Bob (Vince Vaughn), a construction worker and loving father; Franklin (Jonah Hill), a high school dropout who dreams of being a police officer but failed the written, physical, and mental-health tests; and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade), a recent divorcé.
The watch members use the group as an excuse to drink and have fun (much to Evan's annoyance). While driving on patrol, they accidentally hit something. They discover a strange metallic orb that acts as a highly-destructive weapon, and deduce that it is of alien origin. Meanwhile, several more townspeople are mysteriously killed. The watch responds to the murders and encounters an alien, which attacks them. Evan apparently kills it with a lawn gnome before the group returns with the creature to Bob's house. The creature regains consciousness and escapes, stealing the metallic orb and warning them that the aliens have already infiltrated the town. The watch theorizes that the aliens are stealing their victims' skin and disguising themselves as humans, so anyone in Glenview could be an alien. Bob confides to Evan that he is worried about his daughter Chelsea (Erin Moriarty), and does not trust her boyfriend Jason (Nicholas Braun). Evan admits that he has been avoiding his wife Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt) because he is infertile, and revealing that it may cause her to leave.
Evan suspects that one of his neighbors is an alien (due to his strange, stiff way of speaking and because he always seems to be watching him). As the watch scouts the neighbor's house, Bob learns that Chelsea is at an unsupervised party with Jason. Bob disobeys Evan's orders, and rushes to the party with Franklin. Bob prevents Jason from raping Chelsea, but Jason beats him until Franklin intervenes. Evan and Jamarcus investigate the odd neighbor alone, discovering that he (only) hosts orgies in his basement. When Bob returns, he and Evan argue over his putting his daughter above the watch. Bob is fired from the watch after saying Evan has no friends because he tries to control everything. Evan goes home and admits his infertility to Abby, who accepts the news and tells him they will work things out.
Evan then receives an urgent visit from Jamarcus, who confesses that he is one of the aliens but has decided to side with humanity after experiencing human culture (and oral sex). He warns the group that the aliens are building a transmitter (beneath the Costco store) which will summon their armada to destroy the earth, and is expelled from the watch for his deception. Bob, Franklin, Evan and Abby arm themselves and infiltrate the Costco to destroy the transmitter. Bob encounters Jason who reveals that he is also an alien, and they fight. Evan and Franklin attempt to disable the transmitter, but are surrounded by aliens. Jamarcus arrives and saves the pair, revealing that the aliens' brains are located in their crotch; Bob kills Jason by ripping off his penis. Evan discovers that the transmitter is powered by the metallic orb and removes it, disabling the machine. More aliens arrive, forcing the group to flee. The watch uses the metallic orb to destroy the Costco building, killing all of the aliens inside.
In the epilogue, Evan and Abby rekindle their passion and adopt a daughter. Bob is closer to Chelsea and accepts her new boyfriend (who is intimidated by stories of how Bob killed Jason by "ripping his dick off"). Franklin is finally accepted by the Glenview Police Department, and Jamarcus continues participating in the secret neighborhood orgies. The group maintains the watch, continuing to protect Glenview from criminals (and aliens).

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
Somebody else said that this isn't a cinematic masterpiece and that's pretty much what i agree with, but it wasn't meant to be, it had some refreshing dialogue that wasn't so much punchlines, but funny conversations,the whole movie itself was just funny in general, the plot was ridiculous but at the same time it was really funny because it was just a big joke.
"The Watch" is a funny buddy comedy, filled with crude jokes and the silly shenanigans that you'd expect from Stiller, Vaughn, the rest of the cast, and writer Seth Rogen.
I just don't find Ben Stiller funny in any of his films though I bet there are any number of people behind the camera laughing at his every wide eyed attempt at ironic humour, his manager, his agent, his psychiatrist etc.
Filled with high-school humor,long boring conversations and horrible acting with aliens in the mix.The only people who can find this funny are stoned high teenagers and kids that just learned a new word, DICK.This is one of those direct to DVD mistakes.
Like most comedies starring Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and/or any of the Frat Pack, people are going to complain that this was gross, unfunny, ridiculous, etc.
The Aliens are pretty creepy to look at!Performance-Wise: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill & Richard Ayoade are the life of 'The Watch'.
It feels like it was intended for actors half their age but written buy guys twice their age who thought "those young people will think this is funny." It is not.Spare yourself from this one.I can not understand the fairly high rating for this film on this site.
At first glance I thought I would see a great slapstick comedy with an interesting script of otherworldly creatures attempt to invade a neighborhood and the men with humdrum lives getting together to form a neighborhood watch team protect their neighborhood from the aliens but the movie was not up to par at all.
While I didn't think it was going to be a great story I thought the likes of Stiller, Hill, and Vaughn would make up for the plot and they would take the movie to a new level.
The Watch is another example of a film that sacrifices jokes and good performances for gross-out humor, and it's not very funny.
Very few films maintain a good level of comedy throughout the film and this is no exception as the comedy was very spaced out and produced a giggle at best.I think this film could have been very well made and the acting could have been better, most actors are good at one kind of acting in a specific area and the characters seemed to show it as everyone looked as though they were out of their comfort zone (apart from Richard Ayoade who seemed to really get along with his character).All in all I believe that if you were looking forward for this film wait for the DVD otherwise it isn't really worth watching..
When the Costco night watchman Antonio Guzman (Joe Nunez) is mysteriously murdered, Evan organizes The Neighborhood Watch, a watch team with his suburban neighbors Bob (Vince Vaughn), Franklin (Jonah Hill) and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade) to protect the neighborhood and find the killer of Antonio.
Soon they discover that the murderer is an alien that is preparing to invade Earth, and they become the last hope of mankind on Earth."The Watch" is a gross, silly and unfunny comedy with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.
Eventually the script morphs into a comedic version of "Aliens" in a final showdown at the local Costco.Ben Stiller is somewhat bland in the thankless role of straight man placed in the group of sophomoric buffoons who only want to belong to the neighborhood watch to bond and get drunk.
I don't know why he is put in roles like this because he is clearly capable of so much more.Overall, 'The Watch' is really funny and may signify the revival of Hollywood comedy that '21 Jump Street' hinted towards.
I wanted to watch a comedy, something light hearted with my boyfriend so I chose The Watch as it had a great cast in it and it had good reviews.Although I was very much enjoying the film, the thing that ruined it was all the sleazy comments made about women and the orgy scene was completely unnecessary.
I mention this because the film The Watch, directed by Schaffer and with cameos from Taccone and Samberg, is very far from reaching the humor, irreverence and energy we habitually find in their collective work, and is a horrible "comedy" with a pathetic screenplay.The combination of contradictory genres can bring good results, but in the sad case of The Watch, the mixture of comedy, sci-fi and thriller feels absolutely forced and like an arbitrary collection of incongruent scenes which don't contribute to the narrative, but which only exist as mini-sketches of a bad quality.
On the comedy level, The Watch is too predictable, with the expected scatological jokes and vulgarity which don't even work (the five-minute scene about urinating into a jar reveals a lot about the auto-indulgence from co-screenwriters Jared Stern, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg...and their probable level of intoxication while writing the screenplay).
And the least I say about the sci-fi aspect of The Watch, the better.The alliance of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade sounds good on paper, but unfortunately, they are totally wasted in The Watch.
I tend to never pass judgement until the very end (and even then it normally takes me a couple of watches before I give a proper opinion)But in this case, I had simply made my mind up almost a quarter of the way through.There is so much that is wrong with this title, but the biggest chip on my shoulder is the fact that even with such great comedic actors they have to stoop to Genitalia jokes and swearing like their life depends on it.My second biggest gripe with the film is that you can clearly see the tiny amounts of effort that have gone into writing of this film, its as if they have literally sat down at a board meeting and discussed the easiest way to make a quick bit of money on a semi-appealing plot.
You won't be thinking about that at all because the film offers so little resemblance to any "neighborhood watch" movie, program, or event in the last decade or so.
After one of his workers is murdered in the Costco, Evan creates a neighborhood watch program, which only recruits three misfits; loudmouth Bob (Vaughn), unstable Franklin (Hill), and offbeat Jamarcus (Ayoade).As the watch works in a rather disorganized manner, they soon discover that the town is home to rather unearthly creatures and, obviously, since the police won't believe them, they must take matters into their own hands.Ben Stiller gives his umpteenth rendition of the good-guy trying to do right, Vince Vaughn is a loud, obnoxious fratboy, who is struggling to maintain control as a single father looking after his rebellious teen daughter, and Jonah Hill is rather off-putting as an rejected police officer, mama's boy who continues to have trouble emoting and controlling his anger.
Had the film been more consistent in its writing, I doubt this problem would've even been so noticeable.Director Akiva Schaffer, one of the three members of The Lonely Island comedy troupe (the three make a cameo in the film) responsible for some seriously witty music videos and digital shorts on Saturday Night Live, definitely has passion for the weird and surreal, with his previous effort being the unsung cult classic Hot Rod. He simply does what he can with what he has, while The Watch scurries along in its screenplay of errors and its directions a plenty Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Will Forte, and R.
The reason why a film like The Watch falls flat on its face is because it thinks that just because that there's cursing, it's funny...
I went to see this movie with a male friend of mine, and I was so shocked and embarrassed at the content in this movie,I think they wrote it as a comedy,but I wasn't laughing, the language was so bad,I couldn't hardly stand it,theirs just to many movie's made with the F-bomb it's just simply not funny, I don't like hearing all that.
I have never written a review on here before but on seeing a review on here of this movie and them giving it 3 out of 10 I just had to put my 2 cents worth.This movie has one of the greatest comedy scripts out there and all the way through the film is just filled one liner's that are funny and very intelligent.The fun factor of this movie is the fact that it does not take itself seriously but still has moments of importance which makes your care about the characters.If you want an action comedy, with great visual CGI effects, heart warming moments and a laugh out loud script, then this is for you.Just remember that it is not being serious and don't get lost in the sarcasm..
Four suburban, beer-swilling stiffs discover an alien invasion and attempt to thwart it.Led by Costco manager Evan (Ben Stiller), the Neighborhood Watch team looks more like low-rent Keystone Cops than a parody of contemporary masculinity: Evan is a tightly-wound, blank shooting (as in sperm) husband of a sexually-frustrated, but loving wife (Rosemary DeWitt): Franklin (Jonah Hill) is a wired cop wannabe, Bob (Vince Vaughan) is an overly-protective dad, who, like most Vaughan characters, just wants to have fun; and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade) is a likable Brit with a big secret, who doesn't always make sense.Most of the setups, such as a foul-mouthed curmudgeon neighbor with a shotgun and the teen-age orgy, are by now cliché's of slasher films and derivative teen comedies, and in this film fall flat.
Pity us.This will be my last venture watching "comedy" films with Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill.
With an all-star cast, Ben Stiller delivers the same, usual, and uninspired performance as Evan, he's a kind and "by-the-book" nerd, working as a general manager for a local Costco, who then forms a neighborhood watch after his friend was murdered.
Now, "The Watch" is not a terrible movie like everyone says it is, but it is a disappointing comedy that shares a few consistent laughs throughout.
But being a Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn fan, I had to watch this film and see if it's bad as critics and plain viewers made it seem.
Finally, Richard Ayoade is pretty good even though did not expect much out of him.Overall, the Watch is a good, but could have been a way better film.
After checking out the trailer for THE WATCH it looked like it could've been a fun movie with a few good laughs.
For the most part the film was very annoying, at more than one occasion I was almost praying for the aliens to eat Ben Stiller as he was the most annoying and aside from him the other three characters played by Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade were morons and neither one of them were particularly likable.The only actor who was remotely funny was R.
Lee Ermey who seem to have been given the best lines in the whole movie but unfortunately he only makes a brief appearance.As far as the plot goes, its pretty badly put together because the trailer clearly suggested this would be four dimwit neighborhood watch guys taking on aliens.
Instead it turned out to be a non-funny comedy that was just annoying and didn't deliver on what I expected after seeing the trailer.All in all, this film is a waste of time, if I had a choice between this and the array of sitcoms on TV I'd go for the sitcoms..
i saw it last night at an advanced screening with my girlfriend we both loved the movie vince vaughn is extremely funny and jonah hill is great in it.
Many of my doubts about the awkward pairing of buddy movie and serious alien invasion were certainly justified, but to my surprise the experience was overall fairly enjoyable.Okay the plot makes very little sense and the characters behaviour makes even less but ultimately any film which stars such a bizarre ensemble cast is never going to win any awards for realism.
Some say it's too vulgar (but vulgar in an innocent,childish,silly way) but I think that's what makes it so funny and everyone watching it with me in that movie theater seemed to agree with me, because everyone laughed so much, it was great!.
What you see is what you get and that's basically four guys all with pretty good comedy creds (outstanding work from Richard Ayoade of the IT Crowd), great comedic interaction and bucket-loads of action-movie wish-fulfillment.
Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller play their role in the movie of ordinary suburban extremely well and Jonah Hill is just the funniest character and cracks the funniest one liners the whole way through the movie.
Kind of looked like they were making the story up as they went and were trying to cover the lack of direction with extreme over acting and the desperate use of base sexual humour to distract viewers from this.To be fair the trailer pretty much says it all, just watch that and you pretty much have the whole movie bar three of the weakest jokes and one of the most nonsensical plot points.
I felt this movie had so much more potential,the idea of Ben Stiller,Jonah Hill,Vince Vaughn and Richard Ayoade starting a neighborhood watch together and fighting against aliens sounded like something that could have been a really funny movie.However,I did think there were plenty of funny parts in this movie but nothing really that you would laugh twice at but I did find the dialogue between these four actors very enjoyable.I would recommend the Watch to anyone looking for a quick comedy but just don't expect to be laughing out loud.When his friend is murdered,Evan (Ben Stiller) starts a neighborhood to catch the culprit,but they soon find it myth be more than just a human being..
This movie takes unlikely heroes who join the neighborhood (actually the town) watch, each for his own reason and with his own issues, throws them together into the unexpected where they are forced to work together to save mankind from aliens and deal with their personal life while they are at it.The movie combines American humor (Ben Steller, Vince Vaughn and etc.) with Sci-Fi, with a little (not too much) slap-humor, in a way that is more common in British Sci-Fi.The result - a fun movie to watch for people that love to laugh about their Sci-Fi..
When a comedy fan sees this preview it sends shivers down their spine: Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill AND Vince Vaughn all in the same movie?
While this movie is not as funny as Wedding Crashers or this summer's comedy blockbuster Ted, it still provides some comic relief for the viewer while maintaining an easy storyline to follow and some relate-able moments that any father, husband and friend can appreciate.What I didn't enjoy about this film was that Vince Vaughn came out of the role he's so firmly planted himself in these past 10 to 15 years.
Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn all come together nicely and the addition of Richard Ayoade pulls everything together well; after all, everything's funnier with an English accent.+3 for the comradery between the four main characters+2 for the laughs +1 for simply not being a disappointment.
That is quite gross and otherwise unneeded in the movie but i was expecting such considering it had Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn in it.Overall the movie has some unexpected twists good, satisfying ending with some action and laughs.
'The Watch' has four strong lead actors, Jonah Hill & Richard Ayoade being the strongest, Ben Stiller being the weakest and Vince Vaughn is better then usual.
It's rude, loud, fun and very funny, and if you don't mind this kind of comedy you should definitely give it a go.My expectations were low after seeing bad review after bad review, but when I saw the actual movie I did really enjoy it.
If you have watched at least one Ben Stiller movie, it most probably means that you have seen this one.
Stiller and Vaughn have passed the time, when they were funny and Jonah Hill just doesn't have any chance in this movie.
Was the combination of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade strong enough to make the movie fun, or has their comedy grown stale and weak.
Like most comedy movies, the trailer can ruin a good amount of comedic genius, and the Watch is no different.
In terms of performances, Ben Stiller played out his classic American comedy role, Vince Vaughn, I found quit annoying in this film; which was probably intended in the role he was playing where he would control the most idiotic of the group, Franklin, played by Jonah Hill who did a good job as usual just playing out some easy variable comedy styles.
'THE WATCH': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five) 'GHOST BUSTERS' style Sci-Fi/comedy with Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade as four suburbanites who form a neighborhood watch group and end up having to defend the world from an alien invasion.
Every time Ben Stiller comes out with a movie I have to see it because its always loads of laugh.
While the trailers looked average at best, but  with the cast of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard  Ayoade it has the potential to really deliver something fun and  entertaining.
After an employee gets murdered, Costco manager Ben Stiller forms a neighborhood watch with three local men (Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade).