Thursday, October 1, 2026
**** out of *****
Running time: 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R for some strong sexual content, sexual references, pervasive language and violent images.
The perfect conceit of this goofy midsummer comedy is that it doesn’t take Space Marines, Superheroes, Battleship commanders or Men in Black to rid the planet of rampant aliens. All you need is a team of misfit losers with plenty of moxie and the World can be made safe for democracy once more.
This is The Watch, a small gem of an action/comedy/bromance that delivers a twisted take on the formulaic sci-fi “B” movies of the 1950s. Of course there are aliens among us. Of course they are going to take-over/destroy/dominate us. Of course no one believes the heroes. They have to fill in for the otherwise occupied and unprepared law enforcement officials who have better things to do than run down the mind-blowingly powerful space creatures who have come to Anytown U.S.A. to begin their conquest.
What makes this picture such fun (as opposed to, say, The Dark Knight Rises) is that it never takes itself seriously. Its clever script, which parodies the sort of cheapo features which filled the drive-in screens of my youth, is brought to life by a gaggle of solid, polished comedic performances by leads Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayode, supported by such gifted comedians as Will Forte, R. Lee Ermey and Joe Nunez.
Director Akiva Schaffer has harnessed the film’s many diverse talents into a smoothly efficient team. Although he has only directed one previous feature (the under-appreciated Hot Rod), Schaffer has been developing his skills behind the camera with a string of over 60 digital shorts for Saturday Night Live in the past seven years. The top talents with whom worked to make such classics as Lazy Sunday, Junk in a Box and the Laser Cats videos required special handling. So the ability he displays in balancing the powerful screen personae of Stiller and Vaughn pays off in giving the film a solid underpinning. The Watch is their first reteaming since the classic goofball comedy, Dodgeball, and it’s a memorable reunion.
The relentlessly loony screenplay by Jared Stern and the writing team of Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg (Pineapple Express, Superbad) steers our self-ordained neighborhood watch heroes into a world of anarchic mayhem. The result is a consistently funny, escapist release for those who want a different take on the relentlessly super-budgeted, special effects-heavy pyrotechnics of The Avengers, Battleship and Men in Black III.
If you can imagine what Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird would do if faced with the need to save the World, you may get some idea of what this cast does with the material. These are the goofiest heroes of the year, and thus far, the funniest.
