Critics Consensus: The Watch Falls Down On the Job
Plus, Step Up Revolution has nice dancing but a cliched script.
This week at the movies, we've got amateur crime fighters (The Watch, starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn) and politically active dancers (Step Up Revolution, starring Ryan Guzman and Kathryn McCormick). What do the critics have to say?
The Watch
16%
At first glance, The Watch looks reasonably promising: it stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill as a group of average Joes battling a malicious interplanetary attack. Unfortunately, critics say the movie makes the least of its premise, uneasily mixing sci-fi elements with gross-out gags. Stiller stars as a Costco manager who forms a neighborhood watch group after the mysterious death of the store's night watchman. Soon, however, the would-be cops discover that their suburban community is ground zero for an alien invasion. The pundits say The Watch is pretty uninspired stuff, stranding its talented cast with a script that favors vulgarity over wit at nearly every turn. (Check out this week's Total Recall, in which we count down Vaughn's best-reviewed movies.)
Step Up Revolution
42%
You pretty much know what to expect from a Step Up movie at this point: great dance sequences interspersed with clichéd plotting. No surprise, then, that critics say Step Up Revolution is more of the same; its narrative is dull, but when people are dancing, it has moments of interest. Kathryn McCormick stars as Emily, a professional dancer who falls for the more streetwise Sean (Ryan Guzman). Sean's flash mob crew is threatened, however, when a businessman attempts to gentrify his dance turf. The pundits say Step Up Revolution is pretty generic, though it's lively in spots. (Check out our gallery of memorable dance movies.)
Also opening this week in limited release:
- Planet of Snail, a documentary about the relationship between a deaf and blind man and his wife, is at 100 percent.
- Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, a doc about the life and trials of the famous Chinese artist and activist, is at 95 percent.
- Searching for Sugar Man, a doc about the strange disappearance of 1970s cult rock fave Rodriguez, is at 94 percent.
- Killer Joe, starring Matthew McConaughey and Emile Hirsch in a black comedy about a drug dealer who gets more than he bargained for when he hires a hitman to kill his mother, is Certified Fresh at 83 percent.
- Klown, a Danish comedy about a pair of friends who behave very badly on a canoe trip, is at 79 percent.
- The Chinese import Sacrifice, a historical drama about a child raised to avenge the murder of his parents, is at 75 percent.
- Ruby Sparks, starring Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan in a comedy about a novelist who discovers his creation has come to life, is at 72 percent.
- Burning Man, a dramedy about an emotionally damaged man reflecting on his turbulent life, is at 71 percent.
- Nuit #1, a drama about a man and a woman who meet at a rave and divulge their deepest secrets to each other, is at 50 percent.
- Big Boys Gone Bananas!*, a doc about a filmmaker's legal and public relations battle with the Dole Food Company, is at 50 percent.
- Iron Sky, a sci-fi adventure about a group of Nazis invading the earth from outer space, is at 42 percent.
Stepping Razor
And yet still, I bet a lot of people go see this Watch trash.
Jul 26 - 04:42 PM
Gary Foster
I'm too, but only in matinee.
Jul 26 - 10:32 PM
Not Likely
Oh well.. that makes it so much better
Jul 27 - 07:58 AM
Janson Jinnistan
Says Fred Willard...
Jul 27 - 11:02 AM
Matthew Bertram
People should REALLY rent Attack The Block instead.
Jul 27 - 10:59 AM
George Voulcan
Attack the block isn't that good. The characters act really stupid and it's kind of cliches and boring. Plus who can understand anything those chimney sweepers say half the time?
Jul 28 - 12:53 PM
John Noto
Agree Attack the Block was a colossal disappointment given its high tomatometer rating. Not funny, horrible sfx, and asshole characters. awesome.
Jul 30 - 08:10 AM
Aaron Barlow
Sigh, typical arrogant American critics. The big draw card in 'The watch' is RICHARD AYOADE! The man is a comic genius and it's about time the yanks experienced his brilliance. The IT crowd was one of the best comedies in the history of television, thanks in no small part to Ayoade. Of course the Americans tried to remake the IT crowd (why, oh why do they insist on always doing this?) but even with Ayoade it flopped due to the fact that Americans can't match the charm of Brit comedy.
Ben stiller is also a comic genius who's subtle comedic style obviously draws on British influence and he is responsible for partly bridging the gap between US and British comedy, having acted with the brilliant, underrated and often underused Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais and has brought Ayoade to US feature film.
south Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are die hard Monty Python fans for a reason, and Southpark has consistently been on the cutting edge of comedy partly due to this.
Jul 27 - 09:11 PM
George Voulcan
Please, Brit comedy is nauseating. It's so tame and pretentious. Try brushing your teeth sometime, Christ.
Jul 28 - 12:47 PM
Joshua G
I'm not British.. But, really? A teeth-brushing jibe? If you were aiming to be taken seriously, you just failed.
Jul 28 - 07:46 PM
Val Mordas
True, aside from the Python gang and their work (which was ages ago), British humor is generally dry and boring.
Jul 28 - 10:06 PM
Max Houdek
While i don't hate British comedy, I'm sick of British people bashing American comedy acting like it is so much better than ours, when it's simply DIFFERENT. Yes Richard Ayodade is funny, but is he funnier than everyone else in the movie? No, he's just a different kind of funny. Yes, South park writers are fans of Monty Python, but last time I checked they're American and Americans enjoy them just as much as Brits so stop bashing American comedy
Jul 28 - 04:16 PM
Mike PArker
They insist on doing this because British comedy is just as hit or miss as any other...some is great, some sucks...but the only way the average person will become familiar with any of it is for it to get remade. Brit humor, even when good, takes some getting used to to appreciate the style...and most folks aren't gonna bother.
Besides, if America didn't do this, we wouldn't have the greatest comedy of all time...sorry if you're one of those folks daft enough to prefer the Brit Office...but the American version was (and is) pure genius while the original is just pretty good.
Jul 29 - 06:14 PM