Review of Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016) by Glenn G — 27 May 2016

IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME - My Review of NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING (2 1/2 Stars).

If you're a fan of NEIGHBORS, which I was, then you'll have a great time with NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING, which I did, assuming consistency, logic and narrative coherence aren't on your list of demands. Like its predecessor, our heroes, Mac and Kelly, played delightfully by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, suffer from noisy neighbor syndrome, only this time instead of it being a fraternity, it's a sorority. One could call this a feminist improvement, but like Kelsey Grammar's character says to his daughter, "You just want to be as dumb as the boys". This pretty much sums up the film, which made me laugh a lot, despite every fiber in my being telling me this was just another stupid, gross-out comedy.

What sets it apart, however, is the palpable chemistry, the whip smart comic timing, and the surprising heart. Not content to deliver one inciting incident, this film has three:

A group of outcast girls, led by Shelby (a super fierce Chloë Grace Moretz), along with Kiersey Clemons (DOPE) and Beanie Feldstein (Jonah Hill's lookalike younger sister who displays a similar element of danger and zany comic energy), decide to start an independent sorority of their own when they discover the campus Greek system doesn't allow women to throw parties. This information gets delivered by none other than Selena Gomez, who, along with her role in THE BIG SHORT, seems to be the go-to girl for strange exposition dumps! In real life, they're not allowed to drink, thus, in a truly sexist rule, only men get to throw the kind of parties most college students prefer to attend.

So guess where the girls move? You're absolutely correct, but Mac and Kelly have sold their house next door. They must, however, make it through the delicate escrow period before they're in the clear. Their realtor, a hilarious Liz Cackowski, has a great scene in which she condescendingly explains the procedures to the couple.

Teddy (Zac Efron), the sociopathic frat leader and tormentor from the first film, needs a new place to live when his roommate (Dave Franco) proposes to his boyfriend. I love how this bit of information gets presented as just another celebration. So guess where Teddy moves? Yep, into the sorority house as their advisor.

Mac and Kelly just want their new neighbors to be quiet for 30 days, but, girls just wanna have fun, right? Cue W-A-R!!!!

I'm sure you can surmise that from the giant amount of setup that what follows is a bit of a mess. In fact, there's so much going on that logic flies out the window. Case in point, a lengthy section involving stealing weed from the girls results in Zac Efron distracting the girls by dancing shirtless on a platform. Problem is, in a prior scene, the girls dismissed him as too old, so why, oh why, would they drop their guard so completely in this moment?

Director Nicholas Stoller, back from the first, with his veritable gang of writers (5 are credited), knows this is fairly disposable material, so he makes damn sure we care about the people we're following. To that end, the film succeeds wildly. Efron has many delicious comic moments where we watch the wheels spin around in his head, realizing that men have an easier ride in life than women. Rose Byrne has become a comedy VIP, never allowing her role to devolve into "the wife" stereotype. Just watch her and Rogen team up to harass people and you'll see the fire. Rogen locates the maturing overgrown child fumbling through life, making his desperation to both fit in and lead a joy to witness. There are even not one, but two scenes in which things dangle out of characters' nether regions, with Efron's scene being shockingly funny, and Carla Gallo's moment being downright disturbing. Some of this series' greatest hits get trotted out as a result, but, seriously, how could anyone ever think the airbag gag could get old? (That moment alone feels like a constantly replayed Vine video waiting to happen.).

Of course, the comedy is hit or miss, with many misses, and the too simple resolution could have happened at any time during the story, which is a problem. When Chloë Grace Moretz ages into her Oscar bait, English accent, period piece, corset-wearing phase of her career, we'll look back at this role much like we did with Sean Penn in FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, asking, "Why can't she go back to the funny stuff?!!" But until then, you could do much worse than this funny, silly, dumb, quasi-feminist diversion.