The Watch

An Ohio Costco manager (Ben Stiller) forms a neighborhood watch in the wake of a grisly murder in his store, but his only volunteers (Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade) are a pretty unfocused and none-too-bright crew. Soon they find themselves in over their heads and dealing with a stealth invasion from outer space. Jared Stern, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s script rings some surprising changes on its premise, and it smartly lets Vaughn loose in his trademark motormouthed middlebrow rants (here they’re so pungent, we wonder if they were scripted or ad-libbed). The four-way synergy of the boys keeps the pot bubbling, and director Akiva Schaffer wisely doesn’t interfere, confining himself to calling “action” and “cut.” The result is great fun, and one of the funniest movies of the year.