Neighbors (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
'Neighbors' (directed by Nicholas Stoffer, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek) treads similar territory to earlier Seth Rogen flicks like 'Knocked Up'. How so? Well, both films postulate what happens to college/stoner guys when they're finally forced to face the realities of adulthood. Mac's (Rogen) college days are behind him, and something (or rather, someone) new has taken its place. All-night partying has been replaced by a desire not to wake his adorable baby Stella so that he & his loving wife, Kelly (wonderful Rose Byrne) can actually get a good night's sleep. Similarly, Kelly no longer cares how she looks (mom clothes, uncombed hair) ... she's all about pumping milk so that her painful, engorged breasts don't explode {very humorous scene built around this late in the proceedings}.
The drama in this story is that just when Mac & Kelly are coming to grips with their new quiet life in a lovely suburban house ... the house next door is sold to a rowdy Delta Psi Beta fraternity. At first, the 2 leaders, Teddy & Pete (Zac Efron, Dave Franco), appear mildly interested in 'keeping it down' & keeping the neighborhood peace; even going so far as to invite Mac & Kelly to attend one of their parties. Clinging to memories of their party days, not wanting to look un-cool, & wanting to sustain this neighborhood amity, they accept the invite. But, when things get out of hand and Mac calls the police {another funny scene}, Teddy asserts himself, and a contentious Us vs. Them situation devolves into an all-out, frenzied neighborhood battle. Assorted hijinks & intermittent hilarity ensues.
'Neighbors' has an interesting premise, starts rather slowly, but hits a stride midway through. I laughed, and I laughed often. Having said that, it's not as funny as I had hoped it would be. The film contains many of the qualities that make raunchy comedies as popular as they are, nowadays: sex, flesh, drugs, cursing, slapstick, jokes about penis sizes, and most of all ... ad-libbed riffing. Those riffs can be funny. But I'm increasingly agitated by them in movies because they rarely serve the story, at hand. As for the specific vulgar/profane/sight gags, it's all in here, yet quite a bit more tactful than the usual raunch fare; perhaps the presence of the adorable baby keeps things in check. And the end of the movie? You can tell that the filmmakers were trying hard to find an appropriately funny anti-climax finish.
Seth Rogen is fine as the father who yearns for his frat boy years before realizing that he really WANTS that responsible father/husband role. Rose Byrne is great as Kelly, the laid back wife who, in a role reversal, actually has more fun letting loose in the party scene and has devious fun planning the fraternity's demise. In the movie's best sequence (a neon-lit frat party), Byrne relishes hooking two particular people up so as the cause a divide btwn. leader Efron & his frat buddy Franco -- I had a huge grin on my face watching her do her thing. Byrne & Rogen share very nice chemistry & their relationship is quite believable as a couple dealing with the situation at hand. Zac Efron, continuing his attempts break his High School Musical image is fun in the 'bad guy' role. He's got good comedic timing. But again, while some of his ad-lib riffs with Franco or Rogen are fun, some also fail (Batman, DeNiro stuff). Best in show is that baby, though {haha}. What a cutie!
So yeah, 'Neighbors' is perfectly fine early-Summer entertainment. I had a good time with it. But as mentioned, I expected more. Plenty of it is routine/predictable, with a smattering of spontaneous bits to liven things up. Some of it is stupid funny, some of it is stupid, some of it is smart. It's interesting to see the Zac Efron character start to grasp the ominous reality that, one day, his frat days will end, and he'll have to start thinking about responsibilities like ... oh, you know ... getting a job. And so, while I enjoyed 'Neighbors' and while it is one of the best comedies of this early 2014 - offering edgy humor and a rite of passage for people transitioning from party animals into fathers, mothers, and 9-5 workers - something still felt a little flat about the movie, overall.
The drama in this story is that just when Mac & Kelly are coming to grips with their new quiet life in a lovely suburban house ... the house next door is sold to a rowdy Delta Psi Beta fraternity. At first, the 2 leaders, Teddy & Pete (Zac Efron, Dave Franco), appear mildly interested in 'keeping it down' & keeping the neighborhood peace; even going so far as to invite Mac & Kelly to attend one of their parties. Clinging to memories of their party days, not wanting to look un-cool, & wanting to sustain this neighborhood amity, they accept the invite. But, when things get out of hand and Mac calls the police {another funny scene}, Teddy asserts himself, and a contentious Us vs. Them situation devolves into an all-out, frenzied neighborhood battle. Assorted hijinks & intermittent hilarity ensues.
'Neighbors' has an interesting premise, starts rather slowly, but hits a stride midway through. I laughed, and I laughed often. Having said that, it's not as funny as I had hoped it would be. The film contains many of the qualities that make raunchy comedies as popular as they are, nowadays: sex, flesh, drugs, cursing, slapstick, jokes about penis sizes, and most of all ... ad-libbed riffing. Those riffs can be funny. But I'm increasingly agitated by them in movies because they rarely serve the story, at hand. As for the specific vulgar/profane/sight gags, it's all in here, yet quite a bit more tactful than the usual raunch fare; perhaps the presence of the adorable baby keeps things in check. And the end of the movie? You can tell that the filmmakers were trying hard to find an appropriately funny anti-climax finish.
Seth Rogen is fine as the father who yearns for his frat boy years before realizing that he really WANTS that responsible father/husband role. Rose Byrne is great as Kelly, the laid back wife who, in a role reversal, actually has more fun letting loose in the party scene and has devious fun planning the fraternity's demise. In the movie's best sequence (a neon-lit frat party), Byrne relishes hooking two particular people up so as the cause a divide btwn. leader Efron & his frat buddy Franco -- I had a huge grin on my face watching her do her thing. Byrne & Rogen share very nice chemistry & their relationship is quite believable as a couple dealing with the situation at hand. Zac Efron, continuing his attempts break his High School Musical image is fun in the 'bad guy' role. He's got good comedic timing. But again, while some of his ad-lib riffs with Franco or Rogen are fun, some also fail (Batman, DeNiro stuff). Best in show is that baby, though {haha}. What a cutie!
So yeah, 'Neighbors' is perfectly fine early-Summer entertainment. I had a good time with it. But as mentioned, I expected more. Plenty of it is routine/predictable, with a smattering of spontaneous bits to liven things up. Some of it is stupid funny, some of it is stupid, some of it is smart. It's interesting to see the Zac Efron character start to grasp the ominous reality that, one day, his frat days will end, and he'll have to start thinking about responsibilities like ... oh, you know ... getting a job. And so, while I enjoyed 'Neighbors' and while it is one of the best comedies of this early 2014 - offering edgy humor and a rite of passage for people transitioning from party animals into fathers, mothers, and 9-5 workers - something still felt a little flat about the movie, overall.