While Evan is set on the task at hand, the others aren't so serious. Bob, always with a beer at the ready, convinces the gang to hang out at his place. Bob, over protective of his daughter and concerned about her boyfriend, and Evan, secretly sterile and anxious about his wife's (Rosemarie DeWitt) desire to have a baby, begin to bond and share their anxieties. While patroling they discover a large metallic (and incredibly destructive) orb object that they presume to be of alien origin. As more townsfolk go missing, the Watch learns that aliens have infiltrated the town. They believe that they are stealing their victim's skin and disguising themselves as human civilians. With no one else aware of the danger present in the town, it is up to this group of self-assigned heroes to save the day.
For all of these actors, it is the same old shtick. Richard Ayoade creates more laughs out of nothing than his American counterparts, but it does feel like a replication of Moss. He fit in far more awkwardly than I expected and having all these comedic veterans on screen, it becomes a case of "whose turn is it next?" Everyone is given their opportunity to shine, but this translates to inconsistent bursts of fun. Surprisingly, Stifler and Vaughn are more effective in the film's dramatic moments.
One of many problems (in-your-face product placement and a horrendous photo montage to name just two) is the overabundance of penis jokes. It is ridiculous. Some are funny, but most are not. To name a few: Ayoade's character joins the Watch out of a fantasy of having his genitals licked by an Asian woman, Vaughn's character urinates into a beer can during a stake-out, the purchase of extra large condoms from a gigantic display in the middle of Stifler's Costco leads to a running joke, and it is discovered that the only way to kill the aliens is to shoot them where there penis would normally be. When all else fails, bust out a joke about penises.
Throwing these comedic veterans together should have resulted in some clever delivery and hilarious situations, and the film achieves some success courtesy of the cast. But this unfocused, uneven and offensively obnoxious comedy sacrifices witty laughs, satire and any sort of engaging sci-fi action for repetitive gross-out gags. This soon tires and you start to feel pretty bad for these actors who you know can do so much better.
My Rating: ★★ (C-)
If you enjoyed this film or you would like to see more of Ben
Stiller then you can always watch movies online with
great services such as Netflix, LOVEFiLM and Now TV. Each have a
huge range of movies available so make sure you try out the free
trials!
Good summary Andrew, I basically agree with everything you've said. The cast makes it somewhat bare-able/likeable.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, I've never found any of these "comedians" all that funny, so this film was always going to be a low-rent watch at best for me... And this review proves my initial misgivings were correct. I'm not watching this turd.
ReplyDelete