The Watch (2012)

The Watch started production way back in 2008, with changes of director and cast, and after four years is finally in cinemas now. I'm a fan of Vince Vaughn and have been a fan of the Seth Rogan (one of the writers) / Jonah Hill / Judd Apatow comedies. At first glance it seems Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, in the autumn of their respective careers, may have joined this project as a way of retaining their relevance to a new kind of audience for major motion picture comedies. Will this marriage of convenience to be happily ever after?

My answer to that question is a stern 'no'. I've followed Vaughn's career all the way from 'Swingers', I've always been a big fan, and seeing him drool out the clunky, inconsistent and completely unfunny dialogue was just depressing. Ben Stiller's 'Evan' and Richard Ayoade's 'Jamarcus' are similarly inconsistent, never really giving you a feel that they're playing the same character from one scene to another. The lack of credibility spreads out to peripheral characters, especially the police chief, and seeing the film try to create a narrative from a foundation of characters in which I have no faith is completely pointless.

The attempts at "comedy" misses every possible target at which they're aimed, not once is there an attempt at a more clever sort of humour, it's all below the belt and base. To be more specific--the entire script reads like a first draft. It's a script written so all the major plot points could be put on paper and we'll think about the modifying it for more wit and more consistency later: but then that never happened. For a film that took four years--four years!--to make, I find the 'first draft' feel of the writing a most shocking disappointment. Perhaps the best demonstration of the first draft feel is the tagline "Got Protection"--it's crass, not funny, and really seems like the first thing they thought up, and then never bothered to go back and improve it. To see that tagline on the way in serves as the best introduction for what the next 102 yawn-filled minutes will bring.

It's a terrible feeling to sit through a movie and feel angry for it, but The Watch generated in me a real contempt, I'll remember the experience mostly as 'the moment Ben Stiller's and Vince Vaughn's careers ended'. Yes, they'll still be in movies, but the all comedic credibility both of them had, that quality that allows an audience to both laugh-with and laugh-at and laugh-with again (an indispensable quality for a comedic actor) was lost. They set it alight in the backyard and charged admission to the bonfire.

It's not often you'll go into see a comedy at the cinema and come out feeling depressed, but that was my experience with The Watch. I'm giving it my lowest rating.

Moneyball (2011)

Out on DVD is Director Bennett Miller's (of Capote fame) latest work, again pairing up with Phillip Seymour Hoffman but putting him in a supporting role, with Brad Pitt in the lead. It's an ambitious venture: make a baseball film with little to know footage of baseball, make a film about the drama which unfolds in sports management and even more challenging, make a film about the sports statistics and make it interesting.

It turns out that statistics aren't that dull at all. We think of statistics as long, black and white spreadsheets of incomprehensible numbers, only meaningful to 'eggheads' and 'boffins'. Luis Buñuel once offered 'statistics' as his sole pet hate. The fact is, the product of statistics is usually information which challenges our pre-conceived notions and established societal conventions. Despite the dull sounding nature of a movie about statistics, consider the work of documentary filmmakers such as Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock are wall-to-wall statistics. Miller, rather than making a documentary, creates a narrative of a Baseball team down on it's luck, which uses statistics to create a team of undervalued ball players.

The film also works as a vehicle for Brad Pitt, who has matured into one of the best American actors working today, to showcase a flair for dialogue in confrontational situations. He must introduce this 'technique' of using statistics to create a team roster instead of guesswork. He must go up against the literal and figurative 'Old Guard' of the Oakland A's as well as the teams coach, to take what little money the club has and create a champion team. The conflict between Pitt's 'Radical' Billy Beane and Jonah Hill's nervous Peter Brand, against the 'reactionary' Old Guard and coach creates an entertaining drama. Pitt's 'Billy' is especially an engaging screen presence when he's not in control of the situation and must fight for it. This drama and conflict is enjoyable to watch and stays in the memory.

Moneyball is worth a watch and probably a second. I do feel the praise of the movie has been overstated, but Moneyball is a solid three star film, earning an extra half for a) Pitt's stand-out performance, and b) it's successful transformation of documentary subject matter into a format so, so much more entertaining than any sports documentary I've seen.