Neighborhood Watch : Movie Review


There are times during "The Watch"—solitary moments, but moments just the same—when the film feels as if it's edging reverently into blissful sci-fi/comedy territory previously occupied by 1984's one-two punch of "Ghostbusters" and "Gremlins." Clearly, director Akiva Schaffer (2007's "Hot Rod"), screenwriters Jared Stern (2011's "Mr. Popper's Penguins") and Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (2011's "The Green Hornet"), and its whole inspired cast would love if this were so. Sadly, feature-length movies have to run longer than forty-five minutes, and that's where this one gets into trouble. Zippy and pretty consistently funny up until this point, the picture had fast made amends with its noticeable lack of development and narrative gaffes by serving up a punchy part-humorous, part-ominous tone that fit its premise like a glove. Around the halfway mark, however, all involved seem to run out of ideas. The humor stops, the scares end, even the pleasing pacing lurches to a crawl as the remainder of the film begins to wander about, spinning its wheels and going nowhere special. With the seams suddenly showing, "The Watch" finally gives away its own desperation.

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Author : Dustin Putman