Thursday, March 28, 2024

Forget Trayvon Martin: “The Watch” Among Worst Reviewed Films of the Year

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UPDATE “The Watch” is down to 11% on rottentomatoes.com.

This column was the first to report that “Neighborhood Watch” would have to change its name and pull its ads, etc because of the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman tragedy. Now it’s coming tomorrow under the name “The Watch” and the reviews are scathing. Rottentomatoes.com has it around 13%, which is very low. There have been a few lower this year, but not many. Fox held the reviews until today, and as they appear they get worse and worse. Ben Stiller seemed very unenthusiastic on Jimmy Kimmel the other night, too. In his New Yorker profile, Stiller frets about his work and how he’s viewed. I thought in Noah Baumbach’s “Greenberg,” and on Broadway in “The House of Blue Leaves,” Stiller was exceptional. (I also love “Tropic Thunder,” and I can’t explain why. Just goofy great.) Stiller is capable of so much more than something like “The Watch” ( which I haven’t seen, to be fair). Let’s hope he goes in another direction. But between “The Watch” and its current events crisis, and “The Dark  Knight Rises” with its own tragedy, this part of the summer is turning into p.r. disaster. Look for “The Watch” to tank over the weekend. Fox has better stuff coming, anyway.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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