Raunchy, potty-mouthed humor!  Famous guys we love to watch making asses of themselves!  The Watch, the latest boobies, booze & bros comedy is heading your way, and this time there’s gonna be an interstellar throwdown.  Is this The Hangover: Who Invited The Aliens?  Well kinda.  And it kinda rocks.  Oh yeah, and this movie may be manly, yes, but gals will like it too.

Evan (Ben Stiller) is a kindly pain in the ass.  You know the dude in your neighborhood that is in charge of just about every neighborhood group, the fella who is a bit too in-your-face to be truly neighborly?  Yeah, that’s Evan.  So when something bad goes down at the local Costco, Evan — who just so happens to be the manager of that Costco, thankyouverymuch — decides to form a neighborhood watch.  The problem is, only three guys show up to the first meeting.  Bob (Vince Vaughn), an overprotective dad with quite possibly the coolest Man Cave ever; Franklin (Jonah Hill), a guy that never got over not making it onto the police force; and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade, from the hilarious BBC show The IT Crowd), a guy who is new in town and just wants to hook up with an asian chick meet new people.  Needless to say this watch is more about drinking and hanging out than security.  But when the guys stumble upon real, honest-to-goodness aliens, they need to step up or face the destruction of the world.

Director Akiva Schaffer knows funny.  He’s been directing digital shorts for Saturday Night Live for over six years, and he’s also part of the hip-hop comedy group (troupe?) Lonely Island, the dudes that gave us the iPod staples “Dick In A Box” and “I’m On A Boat”.  Schaffer said that changing the name of this film from Neighborhood Watch after the Treyvon Martin  “felt like the right thing to do”, and I agree.  I personally don’t equate comedy with the senseless shooting of a teenage boy, but apparently some folks could make the connection, and that’s enough to warrant a change.  My two cents.  Back to the film.

The actors are giving you exactly what you want these stars to give you.  Vince Vaughn plays Vince Vaughn, a dude that seems like he’s all hopped up on Red Bull and Vodka.  Yeah!  Woot! But of course underneath that spaz is a heart of gold, easily bruised.  Why does everyone like Vince Vaughn?  Because he can carry off this discongruity and make it believable. Ben Stiller plays Ben Stiller, the guy who just wants to be liked.  As with Vaughn, Stiller can inject real humanity into what could be a one-twitch performance, and gives audiences a character to root for.  Jonah Hill’s ability to take a character and go for broke serves him well as Franklin the wannabe cop.  Franklin is bitter and a bit too interested in his butterfly knife, but the watch gives him a place to unpack his need to serve and protect.  Richard Ayoade — and oh how I love that I can finally write about this actor in a big ol’ Hollywood film — gives an understated performance as the new guy in town.  Ayoade has shown that he’s great with the slow burn as director/screenwriter for the indie hit Submarine , and I’m hoping The Watch will get him the attention he so richly deserves.

Billy Crudup (Almost Famous, Watchmen) plays Evan’s creepy neighbor who may or may not be an alien in disguise.  Crudup gives a great deadpan performance, and if this is any indication of his comedic chops, I’d love to see him play to the cheap seats again.  Well known character actor R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket) plays an overbearing neighbor with his usual scene-stealing fervor, and while Rosemarie DeWitt (Mad Men) as Evan’s wife Abby doesn’t get much screen time, she’s the perfect foil for Stiller’s over-involved uberneighbor.  Then there’s my personal favorite, Evan’s co-worker/security guard Antonio Guzman.  Actor Joe Nunez makes it seem as though working security for Costo is The Best Job EVER.  I will never again shop for an oversized bag of Pop Chips without hearing “Boys In The Hood”.  And that’s awesome.  In fact, my opinion of Costco just shot up a notch; with all the drinking, smoking and general destruction happening in one of their pretend stores, I’m surprised a real corporation gave this film the green light to use their name & designs.  Costco: your one-stop shop for all your alien invasion needs!  Cool move, Costco.  Cool move.

There’s a whole lotta special effects in The Watch, but they’re there to service the story — and to make you laugh your ass off — not simply because someone got a new bit of CGI.  Plus, this film rocks it old school too, with plenty of explosions, crashes and latex makeup FX.  If a scene that has one of the aliens losing it’s human “disguise” seems a bit too evocative of V, and the alien tech seems a little like the inside of the Tardis, what of it?  It’s a nerd shout-out, and that’s badass.  The aliens themselves are badass too, and the scenes where viewers first get a peek at these critters (in the usual flash-editing-then-cutaway shots) are truly creepy.  When the aliens come out from behind the shadows, they’re worth the reveal.  Imagine if Pumpkinhead, the Predator and the Alien Queen all got together and had babies.  Lots of babies.  That want to eat us.  Scary!  Blood!  Comedy!

If you’re looking for a good time, a lot of laughs and enjoy movies like Hot Tub Time Machine, Old School and Horrible Bosses, but wish they had more creatures and stuff that explodes?  Look no further.  The Watch is good old-fashioned R-rated summertime fun.