So, I will start this by saying that I am a huge Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg fan, and I love 99% of everything that comes out of their incredibly smart and hilarious minds. Therefore, you can imagine my excitement for their newest project, Neighbors, directed by Nicholas Stoller. Neighbors depicts the story of Mac and Kelly Radner, a young family with an adorable baby named Stella, who live in a college town. A fraternity moves in next door, and, after a broken promise, an all-out feud ensues between the two parties.
As viewers have come to expect from the filmmakers behind the project, the movie was indeed hilarious. The laughs abound all the way through, and there is, refreshingly, no one token dramatic scene that kind of brings you out of the humor of the movie. The casting was spot-on: forget what you know about him, Zac Efron was raunchy and completely right as frat president Teddy Sanders, and Dave Franco gave a great performance (as always) as frat vice-president Pete. Rogen and Byrne were so unbearably hilarious and had great chemistry, and even Ike Barinholtz and Craig Roberts shined in smaller roles. Speaking of smaller roles, I especially loved all the great cameos in the film: there are some unexpected treats from other frat boys of comedy, so to speak, and each one made me oh, so happy. Oh, and even the baby, played by twins Elise and Zoey Vargas, was great! The jokes definitely toed around and took great leaps over the proverbial line (the trailer reveals the baby mouthing a used condom, and that's just as horrific and gut-wrenching and disturbingly funny as you think it would be), and Stoller didn't hold back from anything inappropriate and horrible as long as it was funny (and it all is!, including maybe the least offensive use of the n-word by a white guy ever...), but that's just my kind of humor (although I personally thought there weren't as many dick jokes as promised and wanted more; I wonder what that says about me...). I loved it, and the guffaws from the rest of the audience seemed to indicate love, too.
As viewers have come to expect from the filmmakers behind the project, the movie was indeed hilarious. The laughs abound all the way through, and there is, refreshingly, no one token dramatic scene that kind of brings you out of the humor of the movie. The casting was spot-on: forget what you know about him, Zac Efron was raunchy and completely right as frat president Teddy Sanders, and Dave Franco gave a great performance (as always) as frat vice-president Pete. Rogen and Byrne were so unbearably hilarious and had great chemistry, and even Ike Barinholtz and Craig Roberts shined in smaller roles. Speaking of smaller roles, I especially loved all the great cameos in the film: there are some unexpected treats from other frat boys of comedy, so to speak, and each one made me oh, so happy. Oh, and even the baby, played by twins Elise and Zoey Vargas, was great! The jokes definitely toed around and took great leaps over the proverbial line (the trailer reveals the baby mouthing a used condom, and that's just as horrific and gut-wrenching and disturbingly funny as you think it would be), and Stoller didn't hold back from anything inappropriate and horrible as long as it was funny (and it all is!, including maybe the least offensive use of the n-word by a white guy ever...), but that's just my kind of humor (although I personally thought there weren't as many dick jokes as promised and wanted more; I wonder what that says about me...). I loved it, and the guffaws from the rest of the audience seemed to indicate love, too.
Despite all my love, I do feel that the film suffered from sloppy storytelling: the story events escalated really quickly, didn't always feel totally warranted, and the story as a whole felt rushed. It moved at an aggressively fast pace, lean and mean, but not necessarily beneficial for story content and development. As a viewer, you were along for the wild and crazy, bombastic ride, and you very quickly ended up in places that you didn't see coming. But instead of feeling unexpected and fresh, it felt like the story and characters weren’t ready to be in that place yet. Also, we didn't spend a lot of time with the characters. There was a bit of smart character work/development, especially in the lovely meatiness of Byrne's role (aka, a female role that would often not receive much focus in some of these guys’ other films), but not enough of it; I wanted to know some of the main characters better (especially the frat guys), to spend more time with them. I was missing some character connection.
But whatever. The movie is definitely hilarious, lewd, uproariously stupid, and filled with filth: it delivers what you expect from a Rogen/Goldberg movie, and ups the ante for a Stoller film. Go see Neighbors; you'll have a raucously fun time and won't regret it.
Rating: B+/A-
But whatever. The movie is definitely hilarious, lewd, uproariously stupid, and filled with filth: it delivers what you expect from a Rogen/Goldberg movie, and ups the ante for a Stoller film. Go see Neighbors; you'll have a raucously fun time and won't regret it.
Rating: B+/A-
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