The Watch: Stellar cast falls flat

The Watch
Director: Akiva Schaffer
Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade
**

On paper, The Watch looks like 22-carat comedy gold. It's hard to go wrong with Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and the British comic and director Richard Ayoade - all helmed by Saturday Night Live's Akiva Schaffer.

Trouble is, this story about four suburbanites who form a neighbourhood watch only to uncover an alien invasion is about as flaccid as a punctured tyre. Given that the script's writers include Seth Rogen, it shouldn't surprise you that its brains are crotch high.

The gags are crude and crass, the tone pitched somewhere between Men in Black and a Carry On film.

Hill has his moments as the unhinged, switchblade-twirling Franklin, while Ayoade's deadpan delivery as the divorcé Jamarcus is the film's saving grace. But with a bland Stiller-Vaughn bond, The Watch rarely feels out of this world.