Written by Brennan
Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Written by Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O’Brien
Produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
Zac Efron is just beautiful. Let’s get that out of the way. The guy has given me the motivation to go to the gym (will probably last about a week). If I could look half as good as he does…*starts daydreaming*
Anyway! Neighbors is a new comedy from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It stars Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as Mac and Kelly Radner, a young, married couple with a baby girl, and Zac Efron as the president of Delta Psi, a college fraternity that moves next door to the Radners. Queue comedic situations.
Things that work in Neighbors:
- -- Rose Byrne. She’s great. She’s funny, sexy, and she plays off of Rogen well (and she's way out of his league).
- -- Zac Efron. Not only is his body a Plinko game for your eyes, but he’s really good in his role. His character is that typical cocksure frat boy, but he has a soft side for his buddies and has deep apprehensions and insecurities about joining the grown-up world. He’s probably the most sympathetic character in the movie, which is a bit of a problem that I’ll address later.
- -- A good, relatable theme. The theme of the movie is getting older and accepting change. Rogen and Byrne’s characters are afraid that they are becoming old and lame since they now own a house and have a baby, and Efron’s character is terrified of getting older and is obsessed with squeezing as much fun out of his last school year as possible. I only wish the story had focused more on this theme.
- -- About 40% of the scenes are really funny.
Things that don't work in Neighbors:
- -- The story/editing. It all feels thrown together. Some scenes work really well and it feels like the story is about to take off, but it ends up skidding and sputtering around.
- -- The characters and pay-off. (Mild spoiler) About half-way through the movie, Rogen and Byrne’s characters start to act like real jerks to the frat boys. I expected it to be about even, with the fraternity and the young couple pulling pranks on each other, one trying to gain the advantage on the other, but no, eventually the frat boys try to play it cool to stay out of trouble and the young couple just keeps messing with them and getting the fraternity into serious trouble. Now, it’s ok that the movie didn’t exactly meet the standard expectations, but we needed a scene near the end where Rogen and Byrne realize that THEY are being the real jerks. But we don’t. As a result, I can’t help but dislike the two main characters and feel more sympathy towards Efron and the frat boys.
- -- About 60% of the scenes are not funny and are extremely off-putting.
Like This Is the End, Knocked Up, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin (all from Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and frequent collaborator Judd Apatow), Neighbors has great performances, some really funny scenes, a good message underneath all of the vulgarity, and a very improvisational feel as the actors are given a chance to develop scenes. However, these movies are also very unfocused and episodic, and when the funny scenes don’t really work, they come off as very over-the-top and awkward. It’s almost like they shoot a bunch of scenes, then they take their favorite 90-110 minutes and throw it all together in a vaguely chronological sequence, the result being a sloppy, poorly-paced story that is about half funny and half fail. I feel like a good editor needs to come in and rein in all of the good aspects, trim the crap, and tighten up the story. They should also probably cast someone else besides Seth Rogen as the lead. He’s a funny dude, but I don’t think he has the acting chops to carry a movie and make a compelling character.
My favorite Rogen-Goldberg movie is 50/50. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt plays a very sympathetic and dynamic character and makes a great lead. It’s definitely a Rogen-Goldberg movie, but Rogen only plays as a supporting character and riffs off of Gordon-Leavitt. The movie is also well-written and well-directed, and treats its touchy subject-matter with respect while being very funny at the same time. So this idea of a well-made, successful Rogen-Goldberg movie isn’t even a hypothetical idea, they’ve done it before!
I give Neighbors about a 5/10. There’s a lot of good stuff, but overall it’s just not a very good movie. See it if you REALLY like Rogen-Goldberg-Apatow comedies. I probably wouldn’t recommend this movie to anybody else. Better luck next time.
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment and explain why I'm wrong!
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