Taglines: The last men for the job are the only hope for the planet.
In the town of Glenview, Ohio, Evan Trautwig (Ben Stiller) is an active participant in the community and senior manager of the local Costco store. His life is disrupted when the store’s night security guard is murdered. The local police have no leads, and show no interest in investigating further.
Determined to find the killer and bring him to justice, Evan decides to form a neighborhood watch. However, he only manages to recruit Bob (Vince Vaughn), a construction worker and loving father; Franklin (Jonah Hill), a high school dropout who dreams of being a police officer but failed the written, physical, and mental-health tests; and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade), a recent divorcee.
The watch members use the group as an excuse to drink and have fun (much to Evan’s annoyance). While driving on patrol, they accidentally hit something. They discover a strange metallic orb that acts as a highly destructive weapon, and deduce that it is of alien origin. Meanwhile, several more townspeople are mysteriously killed. The watch responds to the murders and encounters an alien, which attacks them.
Evan (apparently) kills it with a lawn gnome before the group returns with the creature to Bob’s house. The creature regains consciousness and escapes, stealing the metallic orb and warning them that the aliens have already infiltrated the town. The watch theorizes that the aliens are stealing their victims’ skin and disguising themselves as humans, so anyone in Glenview could be an alien. Bob confides to Evan that he is worried about his daughter Chelsea (Erin Moriarty), and does not trust her boyfriend Jason (Nicholas Braun). Evan admits that he has been avoiding his wife Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt) because he is infertile, and revealing that to her may cause her to leave.
Evan suspects that one of his neighbors is an alien (due to his strange, stiff way of speaking and because he always seems to be watching him). As the watch scouts the neighbor’s house, Bob learns that Chelsea is at an unsupervised party with Jason. Bob disobeys Evan’s orders, and rushes to the party with Franklin. Bob prevents Jason from raping Chelsea, but Jason beats him until Franklin intervenes.
Evan and Jamarcus investigate the odd neighbor alone, discovering that he (only) hosts orgies in his basement. When Bob returns, he and Evan argue over his putting his daughter above the watch. Bob is fired from the watch after saying Evan has no friends because he tries to control everything. Evan goes home and admits his infertility to Abby, who accepts the news and tells him they will work things out.
The Watch (previously known as Neighborhood Watch) is a 2012 American science fiction comedy film directed by Akiva Schaffer and written by Jared Stern, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade. The film follows Evan (Stiller), Bob (Vaughn), Franklin (Hill), and Jamarcus (Ayoade), a group of neighbors who form a suburban neighborhood watch group. When they uncover an alien plot threatening the world, they are forced into action. The film is the final film role of R. Lee Ermey, who died on April 15, 2018.
The Watch (2012)
Directed by: Akiva Schaffer
Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Rosemarie DeWitt, Will Forte, Liz Cackowski, Johnny Pemberton, Nicholas Braun, Mel Rodriguez, Erin Moriarty
Screenplay by: Jared Stern, Seth Rogen,Evan Goldberg
Production Design by: Doug J. Meerdink
Cinematography by: Barry Peterson
Film Editing by: Dean Zimmerman
Costume Design by: Wendy Chuck
Set Decoration by: Cindy Carr
Music by: Christophe Beck
MPAA Rating: R for some strong sexual content including references, pervasive language and violent images.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: July 27, 2012
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