The Watch
While I feel like 20th Century Fox made the right choice by renaming this film after the Trayvon Martin shooting earlier this year, I’d be lying if I didn’t say the original title, “Neighborhood Watch” was a better one than, just, “The Watch.” The first title just flows better to the tone of this insane, and insanely funny, suburban comedy about an alien invasion threatening a small town in Ohio. The title change probably hurt the film at the box-office as well, although I’m sure the topical notion of neighborhood watchmen (played by Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade) becoming vigilantes when people start getting murdered hit a little too close to home for some people. Their loss, because the film– with a sharp, ridiculous script by Jared Stern, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg –is one of the funniest films of the summer. Yes, it’s sometimes uneasy in its comedic timing and the “Men in Black”/”Ghostbusters”-esque silliness wears thin, but the cast digs into the absurdities with a wild energy (especially by Vaughn and Hill) that puts most of the other comedies this season to shame, even some of the strongest ones (like the $200 million-plus “Ted”). As much as I always wanted to watch it, even I have to admit, I didn’t see the pleasures of this movie coming.
