Deborah Ross

No laughing matter | 25 August 2012

issue 25 August 2012

It’s a brave soul who buys a cinema ticket at this time of year, when all the studios try to bury their rubbish, and it’s a brave soul who buys a ticket to The Watch. This is a comedy starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade as four suburban men who take on an alien invasion in their neighbourhood. Actually, there are some good things about this film, which I will list here:

* It does end, eventually.

* …nope, that’s it.

And the bad things:

* I did not laugh the once. I do not believe I even smiled, mildly.

* This wants to be (I think) Invasion of the Body Snatchers via Ghostbusters and Attack the Block but succeeds in being nothing but its own dreadful, pitiful, tedious self.

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