The Watch

I don't know why you'd expect this film to be a comedic "Avengers". Vaughn has been in a rom-com slump since the Break Up, Jonah Hill is only good in supporting roles, and Ben Stiller wore out his welcome along time ago. But in contrast to that giant bitch fit and the slew of negative feedback this film received upon it's release, I actually enjoyed this film quite a bit.

The surprisingly witty and partially deep script from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg make this a much better film than it could have been. There are plenty of gags that run a bit too long and some that just flat out miss but overall, it's the depth in the characters (namely Stiller and Vaughn) that saves this film.

The story about Evan's need for meaning in a neutered suburban lifestyle and Bob's yearning for some good old fashioned male bonding make for a hilarious and well thought out crosshair of two characters that really just could have been Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn prototypes that we've seen dozens of times before.

The aliens are a little cheesy but you can't really expect this to be all that scary. It feels a lot like The 'Burbs, with much less emphasis on the villains and more of a concentration on the bored paranoia these four endure. Which I think is a good thing, considering the somewhat underdeveloped aliens.

All in all, it's another criminally underrated comedy of 2012 that was critically panned for apparently not living up to the star power the film packs. But again, what has Vince Vaughn or Ben Stiller done in the past 5 years that's better than this? It's crude, hilarious and even heartfelt at times. Even if it's a bit drawn out and ineffective in terms of the horror elements. Go in with reasonable expectations and you'll likely come out pleasantly surprised.