Parents' Guide to

The Watch

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Aliens vs. potty-mouthed, sex-obsessed humans.

Movie R 2012 93 minutes
The Watch Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 17+

Based on 8 parent reviews

age 18+

Great, for adults only tho

So much sexual humor and enthusiasm and explicit scenes. I wouldn't show it to an immature kid. But for adults, it's just silly fun with plenty of swear words but a very amusing premise and well acted.
age 17+

Too raunchy for kids, too juvenile for adults

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8):
Kids say (19):

Director Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod) doesn't seem to know what to do with this material. THE WATCH lashes out all over the place, trying out gore, rude humor, character development, sexual situations, and product placement by turns. It's as if the filmmakers were more concerned with the MPAA rating than with the audience. As a result, the movie follows in the footsteps of so many other alien invasion movies: It doesn't really work.

Stiller plays his usual uptight schnook here, and the movie spends a great deal of time on a subplot about him and his wife trying to get pregnant; this stuff seems to have been added more to please the actor than to add anything to the story. Likewise, neither Vaughn nor Hill stretches much outside their usual routines, and the only laughs come from lines that sound more like on-the-spot improv than anything written in the screenplay. Sci-fi fans will be the most disappointed: The aliens are the most boring things in the movie.

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