★★
Unlike my movie-reviewing counterpart Joe Moss, I was not
involved in any type of fraternity during my college years. Sure, I attended an
event or two but I wasn’t a member of that particular scene. I know nothing
about the inner-workings of a fraternity, but I do know enough people who were
members to know their lifestyle is being exaggerated for the sake of some cheap
laughs in Nicholas Stoller’s new film “Neighbors.”
Seth Rogen is about as reliable as the come in Hollywood
these days. You always know what you’re getting with him and “Neighbors” is
nothing different. He’s good at what he does, but he never seems to branch out
to anything else. He played himself in last summer’s hilarious movie “This Is
the End.” He plays Mac Radner in “Neighbors” but I can’t tell the difference. I
do still like him though and would consider myself a fan of his.
In “Neighbors,” Mac and his wife Kelly (Rose Byrne) have
just moved into a beautiful new house in what appears to be a quiet
neighborhood. They are brand new parents to the very adorable Stella. Mac and
Kelly were hard partiers in their day and are looking to settle down and be
good parents. But Mac can’t resist a good joint at work with his pal Jimmy (Ike
Barinholtz) and Kelly desperately wants to hang out at raves with her friend –
and Jimmy’s ex-wife – Paula (Carla Gallo).
Without any warning, the Delta Psi fraternity moves into the
house next door. Immediately fearing that the neighborhood is about to become
quite a bit louder, Mac and Kelly decided to head over to the house and come
off as the hip and cool neighbors. They think that if they come across as “dope,”
they’ll be able to convince their partying neighbors to keep it down. They
immediately make friends with the fraternity’s president Teddy Sanders (Zac
Efron) and vice president Pete Regazolli (Dave Franco).
Things start off pretty well with Mac and Kelly partying
with the college kids all night long (great parents, right?). Teddy tells Mac
if he has any problems with the noise to let him know personally and he’ll take
care of it. He makes Mac promise him that he won’t call the cops if there’s an
issue. But Mac calls the cops the next night anyway. This is a declaration of
war in Teddy’s eyes. He’s planning to make Mac and Kelly’s life a living hell.
But Mac and Kelly are also out to see the Delta Psi house get shut down as
well.
The setting of Nicholas Stoller’s new film is something that
resonates well enough with any current or former college kid (member of the
Greek society or not) to be a modestly entertaining movie, but its own plot
gets in the way of being as hilarious as it could have been. With every new
Seth Rogen movie, I always go back to one of his first films, “Knocked Up.”
That film came out at a time when audiences were still being introduced to
Rogen, and his trademark antics were not as well known. Take the opening scene
in “This is the End” when the random fan asks him to do the “Seth Rogen laugh.”
Everyone knows that now.
But not only did that movie introduce the masses to Rogen,
“Knocked Up” was also one of the best
comedy films made during the last decade.
Judd Apatow proved to moviegoers that just because it’s an R-rated comedy film
filled with hundreds of expletives and raunchy sex jokes, the movie could still
have an enormous heart. Occasionally, you’ll get another movie that comes close
to that (“Superbad,” “This Is the End”). So is it wrong of me to expect a
raunchy sex comedy to actually be a good movie in addition to be entertaining,
especially when Rogen seems to be in many of the good ones?
The problem with “Neighbors” is that it gets so lost in its
own plot it almost forgets to push its theme across. My three-paragraph
description of the plot above takes up about 25 or 30 minutes of screen time,
which is also known as the first act. There’s still two acts and over an hour
of movie left to go. At only 97 minutes, you’d think the film was already short
enough, but it feels like it runs long.
The movie is filled with Rogen going after Efron, and then
Efron going after Rogen, and back and forth. It’s a classic example of a
comedic revenge story. One comment I saw online said that “Neighbors” was
Dennis and Mr. Wilson all grown up. I couldn’t agree more. And what’s worse,
the things these guys do to each other just aren’t funny. Are there moments of
humor? Sure there are. Are they moments that leave you gasping for air because
you’re laughing so hard? Only one. Just one.
“Neighbors” is filled with one college cliché after another.
“Animal House” is still the definitive college film after all these years, and
any other movie produced within that genre is an attempt to outdo it. “Neighbors”
is a failed attempt. Each scene portrays the stereotype that fraternities
nothing but sex crazed, drug addicted, alcoholic party animals. And while that
might be the case for some people, those labels aren’t exclusive to fraternity
brothers. The film probably could have still portrayed its messages – as vague
as they are – without these over exaggerated and overused cliché.
And while “Neighbors” features Rogen doing what Rogen does,
the real star of the film is Efron. Admittedly, I have seen very little of
Efron’s work up until this point. I am aware of his Disney Channel beginnings
and his desire to shed that image. It’s pretty hard to get rid of that image
outside of leaking risqué pictures of one’s self to the Internet. Efron has
done a lot of independent work to try and show a more grown up side, but this
might be his first mainstream adult role.
And he turns out to be the movie’s best moment. His character has a surprising amount of
depth built into it. Efron portrays this role with great ease. This role and
movie might very well have spoken to him more than anyone else. He’s a former
teen heartthrob trying to move on to the next stage of his life and career,
while also working on his own sobriety. This part works for him, and he plays
it exceptionally well.
But that’s not enough to save “Neighbors.” It has its
moments that make you laugh but its ultimately unsatisfying. I think that if
Rogen wants to continue what’s been a very successful career, he should be
branching out more to some different kind of comedies that are little further
developed. Films littered with clichés will not be very memorable. Which is why
this one will quickly fall away from people’s minds and “Animal House” still
remains the must see college comedy.
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