Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade
Rating: R for some strong sexual content including references, pervasive language and violent images
Run Time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Synopsis: After the security guard of his store is brutally murdered one night, Evan (Stiller) decides to put together a neighborhood watch to catch the killer. He manages to get three guys to join him - Bob (Vaughn), who doesn't know how to deal with his teenage daughter; Franklin (Hill), a police academy reject with violent tendencies; and Jamarcus (Ayoade), a new neighbor who wants to make some friends. When the four of them discover an apparent alien invasion in town, they struggle to figure out how to stop it and to fix what's all wrong in their lives.
REVIEW
Andrew: Hello readers! We
know it’s been about a week since our last review and for that we apologize.
But the other night we caught a matinee of this past weekend’s new R-rated
comedy The Watch, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and
Richard Ayoade. Directed by Akiva Schaffer – one third of The Lonely Island –
and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (who teamed together to write Superbad),
this was one of only two new releases this week. In our preview I said I was
pretty excited because of the pedigree behind it, but you were less than
enthused to see it. Turns out you were right to be, eh?
Sarah: Yeah! I had very
little enthusiasm for this movie. Great pedigree and I usually love the actors
in it, but I just wasn’t excited about the storyline and it turns out I was
right not to be. Because this movie was one of the dumbest movies we’ve seen
this year, in my opinion.
A: I wouldn’t say it was one
of the dumbest, but it was certainly disappointing and very uneven in the
comedy department.
S: It was like they
were trying to fit in science fiction with a your typical Ben Stiller or Vince
Vaughn comedy and then shoehorn some family conflicts going on…I
just didn’t get it. I didn’t understand why it was the way that it was, and I
thought it was just generally bad. I was bored!
Andrew: Hello readers! We're back with our preview of this week's new releases. Last week we only saw the wide release of one film, the juggernaut that is The Dark Knight Rises, but this week we see two films. One is an original R-rated comedy starring some big names, The Watch, and one is a sequel to a series that I have no idea how or why they're still making more of these, and that's Step Up: Revolution.
Sarah, you pick which one we'll talk about first.
Sarah: Let's go ahead and get the new Step Up Revolution out of the way. The only good one of these films was the first one. It actually did a lot to help Channing Tatum's career and he has turned into quite the movie star. But now, all these movies are are glorified dance videos. And granted, they have some pretty sweet dance scenes but the storylines are usually lacking pretty heavily.
They are niche movies that appeal to a very small audience, but an audience nonetheless so they continue to make them. These movies fall under my "Land Before Time Movies" – as in movies that have sequel after sequel made and I have no idea why.
Official Trailer for Step Up Revolution
A: I haven't seen any of them, to be perfectly honest. And it's pretty much because I have no interest in seeing them outside of checking out the dance scenes, and THAT'S only because I watched the Jabbawockeez on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew.
But looking at the box office information for this series on Wikipedia, I can see why the studio keeps making them. While each new one has made less money than the previous one domestically, it's been the opposite internationally and Step Up 3D actually brought in over $159 million total when it only cost $30 million to make. That's some nice profit.
Continuing my amazing research into this film, the star looks to be some actress/dancer named Kathryn McCormick who placed 3rd during a season of So You Think You Can Dance. The biggest name I can find on the cast list is Peter Gallagher, who I know best from The O.C. and a movie I’m not afraid to admit I love, Mr. Deeds. So the film-makers must be doing something right to make such a good profit off of these no-name films.
S: Like I said, they do have an audience. I think it is safe to say that we will probably not be seeing this one in the theatres...or ever for that matter. I think I just have a hard time seeing them based on my movie standards.
So let's move on to The Watch. This Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn/Jonah Hill movie looks to bring hilarity with a twist of science fiction to the screen this weekend. What do you think about this one?
A: I'm actually quite looking forward to The Watch because of the pedigree it's bringing. As you said, it stars Stiller, Vaughn and Hill who are all funny people in their own rights, but it's also directed by Akiva Schaffer, one of the members of The Lonely Island. He personally directed some of their best videos like "Dick in a Box," "Natalie's Rap," and "I Just Had Sex" to name a few. It's also co-written by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, who wrote Superbad together, and Goldberg also co-wrote Goon, a personal favorite of ours we just caught. So yeah, I'm all about the people behind the making of this movie. The fact that it's rated R gives me some high hopes, too, because those are relatively few and far between.
Official Trailer for The Watch
S: True! I am expecting it to be similar to 21 Jump Street in the comedy deparment, which is holding the bar pretty high for it in our opinion. Vaughn hasn't been in anything lately that I really loved so I am excited to see what he can bring to this movie. Stiller will be hilarious in it I'm sure, and I love Skinny Jonah Hill. I can't seem to get enough of him lately and neither can Hollywood apparently! So while this weekend isn't going to be as epic as last week at the theatres, it looks to be one where we will be laughing more.
A: My one hesitation with The Watch is that Stiller and Vaughn seem to be playing roles that they always play. Stiller is playing the straight-guy, the every-man who's nothing special but kind of reacts to all the shenanigans that are happening around him; while Vaughn looks like he's playing a guy who's related to his Beanie character in Old School. That said I find them to be very funny in those roles. I've also heard good things about Richard Ayoade from some co-workers who've seen him in a British comedy show called The IT Crowd.
S: Oh yeah but we have come to love them for playing these characters, it wouldn't be fair to expect them to change for this movie. It should be entertaining and that is all I can ask for!
Also, because I was gone while this happened and didn’t get a chance to speak on it, I think it is important to also note that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the Colorado shooting last week. It was such a terrible thing to happen in a place that brings joy to so many people.
A: Amen. Ok readers, be on the lookout for our review of The Watch at some point this weekend as we’ll definitely be seeing that one, and as always thank you for reading!
