Page 26 THE VILLADOM TIMES I, II, III & IV • August 8, 2012 Unlikely guardians join forces in ‘The Watch’ by Dennis Seuling “The Watch” is an oddball film that combines broad comedy, male camaraderie, and science fiction. It’s the story of Costco manager Evan (Ben Stiller), who constantly starts clubs and civic organizations in his hometown of Glenview, Ohio. Deciding the town needs a civilian patrol, he starts a neighborhood watch, enlisting Bob (Vince Vaughn), who joins primarily to get out of the house and have some solid guy time; Franklin (Jonah Hill), a rejected applicant for the local police force; and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade of the British sitcom, “The IT Crowd”), a frizzyhaired guy of vague ethnicity with wild sexual fantasies. Members of The Watch are not taken seriously by police Sergeant Bressman (Will Forte), but the quartet is energized when the night watchman at Costco is murdered. This leads to the discovery that the killer might not be of Earth. There is no movie more disappointing than a lame comedy, and “The Watch” fails in its predictable, awkward attempt to blend assorted genres into a laugh riot. The script by Seth Rogen, Jared Stern, and Evan Goldberg is merely a pedestrian attempt to milk gags from an idea that might have looked better on paper than it does on screen. Director Akiva Schaffer is adrift in trying to bring that script to comic life, with many scenes looking as if he should have ordered additional takes. Stiller’s blank look is supposed to get laughs, but he comes off as rigid and is not amusing. A subplot involving his sexual difficulties with his wife, Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt), might account for his disengaged demeanor, but it does not help generate laughter. Hill recycles his nerdy schnook character from many earlier films and is never given decent enough dialogue to help him extract his character from the morass of subpar writing. You can see him struggling to get laughs that never happen. Vaughn is the one who carries most of the comedy weight in “The Watch.” His rapid-fire delivery, childlike suggestions, and innocent desire to have fun with the boys are honest and believable. Even when the script is not there to support him, he manages to forge ahead, replacing body language, facial expression, and that rat-tat-tat delivery for clever dialogue. In addition to enjoying his nights out with the guys, Vaughn’s character is an overly protective father to his teenaged daughter, and one scene, in which he poetically expounds on the joys of fatherhood just before engaging in a shouting, name-calling match with her, hits Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller, Richard Ayoade, and Vince Vaughn witness the power of a mysterious object in ‘The Watch.’ the mark comically. The final third of the movie takes a wide turn into the realm of sci-fi special effects with lots of computer generated aliens scurrying about Costco, which the outer-space creatures have made their home base because everything they need for their invasion can be found under one roof. It has gotten to the point that viewers take for granted the marvels of computer-generated imagery, so suffice it to say the aliens are appropriately creepy, slimy, and fastmoving, and ooze green blood. “The Watch” is rated R but, unlike sharper, edgier R-rated comedies such as “The Hangover” or “Horrible Bosses,” it wants to have it both ways -- incorporating strong language and naughty references yet keeping things pretty much tame. The result is a tepid, mildly amusing film that is definitely one to wait to see on DVD. Cook Up Some Business! Advertise your restaurant in The Villadom TIMES. You’ll reach 46,020 households. 201-652-0744 www.villadom.com